A track and field meet unlike any other will be contested primarily in Oslo, Norway, on Thursday, as well as various other satellite locations, as the Bislett Games transforms into the Impossible Games in the coronavirus era. The event could only work in the sports-starved situation we find ourselves in right now, as one-person races and remote competitions across continents would otherwise be dismissed as gimmickry. But at this point, anything resembling athletics is a welcome distraction in a period of prolonged uncertainty. So let’s get weird!

Here are five events to watch on Thursday:

Maurie Plant Memorial Men’s 2,000m

With all due respect to Karsten Warholm and Mondo Duplantis, the most exciting competition in Oslo will simultaneously take place in Nairobi, Kenya. (Imagine reading that sentence four months ago.) Team Ingebrigtsen (featuring Jakob, Filip and Henrik) will square off against Team Cheruiyot (featuring reigning 1500m world champ Timothy Cheruiyot and 2017 1500m world champ Elijah Manangoi) in a 2k five-man team competition that will be decided by the the three fastest combined times per squad. 

I’m less intrigued by the outcome than the spectacle of competitors racing from thousands of miles away. Surely a tactical race this will not be, especially as the Norwegians target Steve Cram’s 4:51.39 European record. The Kenyans clearly have the best athlete in Cheruiyot, who dominated the Doha final last fall and lost just one race in all of 2019. (Ironically, to Manangoi.) 

But the Norwegians should benefit significantly from competing at sea level while their East African counterparts race at 6,000 feet. Team Ingebrigtsen also has more depth on paper, too, as each of the three brothers competed in World Championship finals last fall, while Cheruiyot and Manangoi will have to carry their less-accomplished teammates. 

Given how good Jakob has been for the last year-plus (3:30 1500m, 13:02 5k in 2019), the difference between he and Cheruiyot could prove to be insignificant. If that’s the case, I would expect Team Ingebrigtsen to claim this unique race.

Men’s Pole Vault

After their dramatic tie in the inaugural Ultimate Garden Clash on May 3, current pole vault world record holder Mondo Duplantis and the man whose record he toppled earlier this year, Renaud Lavillenie, will rekindle their rivalry at the Impossible Games.

Unlike their garden meeting, Duplantis and Lavillenie will this time compete in a traditional competition of clearing the best height. But like the clash, they’ll once again soar in two different locations as Lavillenie will be at home in France while the Swede will jump on site in Oslo. 

If the 20-year-old Duplantis is still in the form that saw him break Lavillenie’s record not once but twice in February, then the 2012 Olympic champion has his work seriously cut out for him as he hasn’t cleared 6.00m since 2016. Mondo has cleared that barrier seven times in 2020 alone, and the 6.14m outdoor world record is certainly in reach considering that he set the bar at 6.18m just four months ago.

Men’s 300m Hurdles

The 300m hurdles is an event most commonly run at the high school level, and nowhere else, but on Thursday the world’s greatest 400m hurdler will try his hand in an attempt to break the 34.48 world record. That shouldn’t be any problem for reigning world champion Karsten Warholm, who has eclipsed that time already with his 34.26 indoor performance from 2018.

The only real impediment to Warholm demolishing this record, currently held by Chris Rawlinson from 2002, is that he’s running this race entirely solo. Perhaps that will slow down the second-fastest 400m hurdler in history, although his predilection for fast starts indicates he’s comfortable by himself.

Women’s 3,000m

The Norwegians have upped the solo race ante in the women’s 3,000m as Karoline Grøvdal will chase Grete Waitz’ 8:31.75 national record with the help of wave-light technology. You have to be of a certain category of track nerd to fully appreciate this event, and I’ll admit that Norwegian records combined with light bulbs doesn’t immediately rev my engine.

But hey, I don’t have anything else going on and Grøvdal has a shot to crack the mark as her PB is just over six seconds behind.

Men’s Discus

2019 world discus champion Daniel Ståhl is a very large man and he uses that frame to throw the discus very far. (Last year, the Swede chucked the disc 71.86m, tied for sixth best in history.)

Ståhl is the massive favorite here, but fellow Doha finalists Simon Pettersson (Sweden) and Ola Stunes Isene (Norway) should give him a run for his money. (Funny story about Ståhl and Pettersson: I was standing near Ståhl in the mixed zone last year when he found out his countryman made the World Championships final. He was so excited for Pettersson that he let out a tremendous bellow-- one of the loudest noises I’ve ever heard-- which nearly made me crap my pants.)