Among those who have an active interest in the second batch of 16 events being decided on a winner-takes-all basis in Belgium tomorrow are double world 200 metres champion Dafne Schippers of The Netherlands, her compatriot Sifan Hassan and Colombia’s Olympic triple jump champion Caterine Ibarguen.

Hassan, who will seek a 1,500m title in Brussels having run over 5,000m in Switzerland, plans to be driven through the night after her competition in the Weltklasse meeting in the Letzigrund Stadium today.

Schippers, down for the 100m in Zurich and the 200m in Brussels, is due to be on an early morning flight tomorrow, as is Ibarguen, who will have a tilt at the long jump after trying to win the title unexpectedly won last year by Kazakhstan's Olga Rypakova.

In the meantime the men’s pole vault field - who took part in a top-quality exhibition meeting in Zurich’s main station last night - are on their way over to Belgium by plane while their poles are being faithfully delivered by one or two of their coaches who have lashed them to the tops of their cars.

As Sam Kendricks, the 2017 world champion from the United States, explained: “We need to make sure about our equipment to compete, and this gives us leverage.

"We can’t do this kind of thing for every competition, but having meets in Zurich and Brussels means it works this time.

"When there is a top prize of $50,000 (£38,000/€43,000) on offer we need to take extra precautions.

"I lost all of my poles in my very first international competition.

"I won the World Universiade at Kazan in Russia in 2013, but on the journey back every pole I had was broken.

"It’s worse than a golfer losing his clubs – because you can’t buy vaulting poles off the rack.”

Assuming all these itinerant parties make it in time to the the 42^nd AG Van Damme Memorial meeting as planned, the programme is rich in promise.

In all, nine reigning world champions, eight defending world champions and a dozen 2018 world leaders will be involved in front of another capacity crowd of 47,000-plus at the King Baudouin Stadium.

The points accumulated to get everyone to the final now drop away - and everything is to play for, with a Diamond Trophy and cheque for $50,000 on offer to all 16 winners.

Croatia’s world, Olympic and European discus champion Sandra Perkovic looks ready to create Diamond League history by winning a seventh consecutive title, which would bring her level with Renaud Lavillenie – unless France’s pole vault world record holder, who had a thin time of it in yesterday’s exhibition event, can win for an eighth time.

Sweden’s 17-year-old Armand Duplantis, who won the European title this month with a clearance of 6.05 metres - putting him joint second on the all-time outdoor list - has managed to get time off school to compete.

Like Perkovic, the world and Olympic triple jump champion Christian Taylor is also targeting a seventh series title but he faces serious opposition in the form of Spain’s naturalised Cuban athlete Pedro Pable Pichardo, who has joined him beyond 18 metres in recent years.

In the men's 100m, Christian Coleman, the world silver medallist who has won the world indoor title and broken the world record at 60m, has had his outdoor season hindered by minor injury.

He won in Birmingham a couple of weeks ago in a season’s best of 9.94sec, but his US colleague Ronnie Baker has been more consistent, and last week ran the quickest 100m of 2018, a personal best of 9.87.

But the field also includes several challengers fully capable of leaving the Belgian capital as Diamond League champion - Akani Simbine, the African and Commonwealth champion from South Africa and Briton Reece Prescod, the European silver medallist, among them.

Britain’s CJ Ujah will defend his title.

Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo will defend her 200m title against Schippers, but her 400m title will be undefended and looks destined for Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Nassar, whom the Bahamian narrowly beat in Monaco.

Ibarguen has chances in a long jump from that now lacks the injured champion of last year, world indoor champion Ivana Spanovic of Serbia.

With Mutaz Barshim out with injury, the men’s high jump is also wide open, with Australian Brandon Starc bringing the best momentum, given his recent 2.36 personal best victory in Birmingham.

Germany’s Mateusz Przbylko managed 2.35m to take the European crown and could be a factor as well.

In the women's 100m hurdles world record holder Kendra Harrison, the winner in Doha and London, takes on Olympic champion and US compatriot Brianna McNeal, who picked up series wins in Shanghai, Stockholm and Rabat.

On the men’s side, defending 110m hurdles Diamond League champion and leader of the 2018 lists at 12.92, Russian Sergey Shubenkov, will start as favourite but will face the Frenchman who beat him to the European title by two thousandths of a second, Pascal Martinot-Lagarde of France.

Kenya’s Emmanuel Korir, the winner in Doha, Eugene, London and Birmingham and holder of two of the three fastest performances of the season, is favourite in the men’s 800m.

Hassan has her work cut out in the women’s 1,500m, where the field includes Britain’s European champion Laura Muir and Shelby Houlihan of the United States, who beat both of them in Lausanne.

In the women’s 3000m steeplechase, the title appears to be Beatrice Chepkoech’s to lose. 

The Kenyan shattered the world record with a stunning 8min 44.32sec run in Monaco last month, and followed up with an impressive performance under difficult conditions to take the African title just over three weeks ago.