Doha Diamond League Event by Event Preview
The 2024 Diamond League series will continue on Friday, May 10, at the Seashore Group Doha Meeting in Doha, Qatar. This event will showcase performances from several world-renowned athletes, including Molly Caudery, the world indoor champion in women's pole vault, Mary Moraa from Kenya, the world champion in the women’s 800 meters, Neeraj Chopra from India, the Olympic and world gold medalist in men’s javelin throw, and Steven Gardiner, the Olympic champion in the men’s 400 meters. The meeting will also highlight Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece in the men's long jump, Timothy Cheruiyot from Kenya in the men's 1500 meters, and Allison Dos Santos, the 2022 world champion in the 400 meters hurdles.
“The Doha Meeting is increasingly recognized as a significant event on the global athletics scene, drawing prominent athletes. Last year, the event exceeded our expectations with three meeting records, four national records, and enthusiastic, full-capacity crowds. In 2024, we are excited to host the world's top athletes at the Qatar Sports Club and offer them our renowned hospitality,” stated Mohamed Said Fadala, President of the Qatar Athletics Federation.
Below is our detailed event-by-event preview for the Doha Diamond League meet.
Women’s pole vault:
World outdoor champion Nina Kennedy and fresh world indoor champion Molly Caudery from Great Britain will face off in a star-studded clash in the women’s pole vault.
Australian record holder Nina Kennedy shared the world outdoor gold medal with Olympic champion Katie Moon at 4.90m at the World Championships in Budapest after their attempts at 4.95m still could not separate them. Kennedy won the Diamond League title with 4.81m in Zurich in 2022.
Moon had to withdraw from the Doha meeting after her recovery from an Achilles injury took longer than expected.
Caudery made her breakthrough in 2022 when she won the silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. The British pole vaulter finished fifth at the World Championships in Budapest in 2023 with 4.75m. This winter season she set the world indoor lead twice by clearing 4.85m at the British Championships before winning the world indoor title in Glasgow with 4.80m. She became the first indoor gold medallist for Great Britain in a field event since 2012 and improved her PB by 26 cm in the past year. She is aiming to break the British record of 4.90m held by Holly Bradshaw in Manchester in 2021.
Molly Caudery: “Last indoor season was literally a dream come true, so to start this Olympic year as a world indoor champion makes me so grateful and excited for what’s to come. This will be my first time competing in Doha and I can’t wait competing to get my outdoor season started. I am loving absolutely every moment of this journey.”
Caudery and Kennedy will be joined by US pole vaulter Sandi Morris, three-time world outdoor silver medallist, two-time world indoor champion and Olympic silver medallist in Rio de Janeiro 2016, Tina Sutej, Slovenian record holder with 4.82m, fifth at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo and fourth at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Ekaterini Stefanidi from Greece, Olympic champion in Rio de Janeiro 2016, world gold medallist in London 2017 and winner at 16 Diamond League meetings in her career, USA’s Bridget Williams, 2019 World University Games bronze medallist and 2023 Panamerican Games champion, Roberta Bruni, Italian outdoor record holder with 4.73m, and Gabriela Leon from the USA, NCAA champion in Eugene in 2022.
Men’s javelin throw:
Reigning world and Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra from India will take on 2023 Diamond League champion Jakub Vadlejch from Czech Republic and 2019 world champion Anderson Peters from Grenada.
Chopra became the first Indian athlete to win a Diamond League Trophy in 2022. The Indian thrower set the world under 20 record when he threw 84.68m to win the world under 20 gold medal in Bydgoszcz 2016. He made history in Tokyo 2021 when he became the first Indian athlete in history to win the Olympic gold medal in track and field. Two years later he became the first Indian athlete to win the gold medal in the history of the World Championships.
Chopra claimed the win in the opening meeting of the 2023 Wanda Diamond League in Doha with 88.67m beating Vadlejch and Peters. Chopra has inspired a new generation of young Indian athletes and was joined by two of his teammates in the final of the World Championships in Budapest.
Neeraj Chopra: “Last year my dream was to win the World Championships, but to have three Indian athletes competing in the final shows we are progressing as a nation”.
Peters, world champion in Doha at the World Championships in 2019, won in the Diamond League meeting in the Qatari capital in 2022 setting the national record and the fifth best performance in history with 93.07m and finished third in last year’s edition with 85.88m.
Vadlejch placed second in the 2022 edition behind Peters improving his PB to 90.88m, his first ever throw over the 90 metres barrier. The 33-year-old Czech thrower won the Olympic silver medal in Tokyo 2021 with 86.67m and three world medals (silver in London 2017 with 89.73m, bronze in Eugene 2022 with 88.09m and in Budapest 2023 with 86.67m). He started the 2024 season with 87.00m in Potchefstroom (South Africa) last March.
Julian Weber will return to Doha where he finished third in 2022 with 86.09m The German thrower won the European gold medal in Munich 2022, finished fourth at the Olympic Games in Tokyo and in two editions of the World Championships in Eugene 2022 and Budapest 2023. He set a PB of 89.54m in Hengelo in 2022.
The line-up also features World Championships finalist Oliver Helander from Finland, who improved his PB to 89.93m in Turku in 2022, Asian Games silver medallist and World Championships finalist Kishore Jena from India (PB 87.54m), Lithuanian record holder and World University Games champion Edis Matusevicius (PB 89.17m set in 2017), Asian champion and Asian Games bronze medallist Roderick Genki Dean from Japan (PB 84.28m), Moldovan record holder and Olympic finalist Andrian Mardare (PB 86.60m), Panamerican Games champion Curtis Thompson (PB 87.70m) and national record holder Ahmed Bader Magour from Qatar (PB 85.23m).
Men’s 400 metres hurdles:
Former world champion and Diamond League Alison Dos Santos will be aiming to score his second win in the men’s 400 metres hurdles at the Doha meeting.
Dos Santos won the Olympic bronze medal in Tokyo 2021 in 46.72 and the world gold medal in Eugene 2022 in a South American and championship record of 46.29. He was undefeated during the 2022 season and won the Diamond League title that season. He seriously injured his knee during the 2023 winter but he made his come-back with a second place in the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Monaco with 47.66. A few weeks later the Brazilian hurdler finished fifth at the World Championships in Budapest and fourth at the Diamond League Final in Eugene in 47.44. He returns to Doha where he won at the Diamond League meeting in 2022 in 47.24. This year he ran twice 45.25 in the flat 400 metres in Gainesville.
The other athletes to watch are France’s Wilfried Happio, fourth at the World Championships in Eugene in 47.41 missing Stephane Diagana’s national record by 0.04 and European silver medallist in Munich in 2022, US hurdlers CJ Allen (winner at the Paris Diamond League meeting in 2023 in 47.92), Khalliffah Rosser, fifth at the World Championships in Eugene 2022 in 47.88, and David Kendziera, third at the US National Championships in Eugene 2021, and Turkey’s Yasmani Copello, Olympic bronze medallist in 2016.
Men’s 200 metres:
Courtney Lindsey will be looking to continue his great season after winning the 200 metres at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi in a world leading time of 19.71 into a headwind of -1.5 m/s. Lindsey won the NCAA title in the 100m in 9.89 in Austin 2023 and the 4x100 relay at the World Relays in a world leading time of 37.40 in Nassau.
Lindsey will go head-to-head against 2021 Olympic silver medallist Kenny Bednarek, who won the Diamond League Final in the 200 metres in Zurich in 19.70. Bednarek won one of his eight Diamond League races in Doha in 2021 in 19.88. This year the US sprinter won the 200 metres in 20.35 in Miramar beating Christian Coleman and the 100 metres in a wind-assisted 9.91 at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi.
The line-up also features Aaron Brown from Canada, sixth in the 200m at the World Championships in Doha 2019 and second with the 4x100 relay at the World Relays in Nassau last week, Joseph Fahnbulleh from Liberia, fourth in the 200 metres final at the World Championships in 19.84, Kyree King, second in the 100 and 200 metres at the NACAC Championships in Freeport 2022, Joshua Hartmann, German record holder in the 200m in 20.02.
Women’s 100 metres:
Daryll Neita from Great Britain will chase her second win in this year’s edition of the Diamond League after finishing first in the 200 metres in Suzhou in 22.62. Neita will run her first 100 metres race of the season in Doha. The British sprinter won the European bronze medal in the 100m and finished fifth in the 200m at the World Championships. She won her first Diamond League race in the 200m in Stockolm.
Neita will take on Tamari Davis and Celera Barnes, who won the 4x100 relay at the World Relays in Nassau last week, Natasha Morrison from Jamaica, who improved her PB to 10.85 at the Diamond League Final in Eugene, Amy Hunt, European under 20 champion in the 200m in 2019 and British indoor champion in the 60m in 2024.
Women’s 800 metres:
World outdoor champion Mary Moraa will go head-to-head against world indoor silver medallist Jemma Reekie in the women’s 800 metres.
Moraa finished third at the World Championships in Eugene 2022 in 1:56.71, won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham 2022 in 1:57.07, the world gold medal in Budapest 2023 in a lifetime best of 1:56.03. She claimed victories in Rabat and Stockolm and was crowned Diamond League champion in Zurich 2023. She set the Kenyan record in the 400 metres in Nairobi in 2023 with 50.38. Last March she won the All-African Games 400 metres title in 50”57. The 23-year-old Kenyan athlete has been become known for her dancing celebrations after her world title in Budapest. She will return to Doha, where she reached the semifinals in the 400 metres at the 2019 World Championships.
Mary Moraa: “I am looking forward to returning to Doha to compete in the Diamond League. Every year I am learning more and growing in confidence. I am now a world champion and it’s natural that my target for this summer is to run quicker than I have done before and to win gold at the Olympic Games. I have seen the crowd in Doha and how they get behind the African athletes. I hope I can do a victory dance for them”.
Reekie made her breakthrough in 2019 when she won two gold medals in the 800 and 1500 metres at the European under 23 Championships. The Scottish athlete finished fourth at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo improving her PB to 1:56.90. The Scottish athlete won the world indoor silver medal in Glasgow last March and finished fifth at the World Championships in Budapest 2023 in 1:57.72.
Jemma Reekie: “My indoor season finished on a high with my first major medal, but it’s no secret that I want to be challenging for a place on the podium in every competition. It’s in my nature and it’s what I can believe I am capable of. Every training session and every race I do is building towards the Olympic Games in Paris. The women’s 800 metres is so strong right now. I am excited to be part of it and I am looking forward to getting my Diamond League season underway against top quality opposition in Doha”.
The field will feature world indoor bronze medallist Noelle Yarigo from Benin, Olympic finalist Natoya Goule Toppin, who set a Jamaican record of 1:55.96 at the Diamond League Final in Eugene in 2023, and Halimah Nakaay, who won the world outdoor gold medal in Doha 2019, Habitam Alemu from Ethiopia, fifth at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow 2024, Alexandra Bell from Great Britain, seventh in the Olympic final in Tokyo, Isabelle Boffey from Great Britain, European under 23 champion in Tallin 2021, and Elena Bellò, who improved her PB to 1:58.97 at the Diamond League meeting in Rome in 2022.
Men’s 400 metres:
Reigning Olympic champion Steven Gardiner from the Bahamas will return to Doha where he won the gold medal at the World Championships in 2019 in a lifetime best of 43.48 at the Khalifa Stadium. With this performance Gardiner moved up into sixth place in the world all-time list. He is aiming to score his ninth career win in the Diamond League. He has a good memory of this meeting, as he took two wins in the Qatari capital in 2017 and 2018.
Gardiner had been in good shape in the build-up to the World Championships in Budapest 2023. The Bahamian 28-year-old athlete set the second fastest time in his career with 43.74 in Szekesfehrvar one month before the World Championships, but he got injured and did not finish the semifinal. He clocked 31.99 in the 300 metres in Coral Gables (Florida) last March in his come-back to competitions and 44.45 in the 400 metres in Baton Rouge on 20 April. He qualified for the Olympic Games in the 4x400 mixed relay with 3:12.81 on home soil in Nassau.
Steven Gardiner: “This is an exciting year for me with the prospect of my third Olympic Games. I was heartbroken to suffer an injury in Budapest last summer, which ended my 2023 season, but I want to run fast when it matters and when you train so hard, working towards those big moments, injuries happen. I am working on my fitness and being healthy and my training is coming along. I am looking forward to competing in the 400 metres in Doha. The warm conditions will suit me, so it’s a perfect opportunity to build my confidence with a strong early season performance”.
Gardiner will face Vernon Norwood and Quincy Hall, members of the US 4x400 quartet, who won the gold medal at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Botswana’s Bayapo Ndori, winner at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi in 44.10 and winner in the 4x400 relay at the World Relays in Nassau in 2:59.11, Leungo Scotch, third in Nairobi in 44.54 and another member of the Botswanan winning team at the World Relays, and Muzala Samukonga from Zambia, who improved the national record to 43.91 in Gaborone last year.
Women’s 100 metres hurdles:
US Tonea Marshall starts with the fastest time among the entrants with her seasonal best of 12.42 set in Clermont last April.
Marshall will go head to head against Nadine Visser, two-time European indoor champion in the 60 metres hurdles, Pia Skrzyszowska from Poland, world indoor silver medallist in 7.79, Ditaji Kambundji from Switzerland, European indoor champion in Istanbul 2023 and Swiss record holder with 12.47 in the 100 metres hurdles, Alaysha Johnson, US Indoor champion in the 60 metres hurdles in 7.83, and Amber Hughes, who clocked a seasonal best of 12.61 in Gainesville last April.
Men’s 3000 metres steeplechase:
Lamecha Girma from Ethiopia will return the 3000 metres steeplechase after winning the 5000 metres at the Xiamen Diamond League meeting in 12:58.96. Girma set two world records in the indoor 3000 metres with 7:23.81 and in the 3000 metres steeplechase with 7:52.11 in Paris in 2023.
Girma will clash against Abraham Kibiwot from Kenya, world bronze medallist in Budapest 2023 and winner at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, Benjamin Kigen, Olympic bronze medallist in Tokyo 2021.
Women’s 1500 metres:
Diribe Welteji from Ethiopia will go head-to-head against her compatriots Birke Haylom, Freweyni Hailu and Hirut Meshesha.
Welteji won the world silver medal in Budapest in 3:55.69 and the gold medal at the World Road Running Championships over the mile distance in Riga 2023. She started her 2024 season with a a fourth place in 3.57.62 in Xiamen.
Haylom won the world under 20 gold medal in the 1500m in Cali 2022 and set the world under 20 record over the mile distance with 4:17.23. The 18-year-old Ethiopian athlete finished second in Xiamen in 3:53.22 last April.
Hailu won the world indoor title in the 1500m in Glasgow last March and finished fourth at both the Olympic Games in Tokyo and the World Championships in Eugene.
Meshesha won the world indoor bronze medal in Belgrade 2022 and won the 1500m in 3:54.87 in Chorzow 2023. The other Ethiopian athletes in the field are Worknesh Mesele, third in Xiamen in 3:57.61, and 16-year-old Saron Behre, who improved her PB to 3:59.21 in Xiamen.
The Kenyan challenge is led by Nelly Chepchirchir, who finished fifth at the World Championships in Budapest 2023 and improved her PB to 3:56.72 in Xiamen last year.
The line-up features the best Australian middle distance runners Jessica Hull, fourth at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow 2024 in the 3000 metres in the Oceanian record of 8:24.39, Georgia Griffith, who improved her PB to 3:59.04 in Xiamen this year, and Abbey Caldwell, who set PBs of 1:58.48 in the 800m and 3:59.79 in the 1500m.
Men’s 1500 metres:
Olympic silver medallist Timothy Cheruiyot will line up against world bronze medallist Narve Gilie Nordas from Norway and Reynold Cheruiyot from Kenya.
Timothy Cheruiyot won the world silver medal in London 2017 before claiming the world title two years later in Doha 2019. Cheruyiot is one of the most successful athletes with four Diamond Trophies. He is aiming to claim his career 22nd career win in a Diamond League meeting.
The 28-year-old Kenyan middle-distance runner set a lifetime best of 3:28.28 in Monaco in 2021 and improved his 3000m PB to 7:36.72 in last year’s edition of the Diamond League in Doha. He opened his 2024 outdoor season with 1:46.56 at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi on 20th April.
Timothy Cheruiyot: “The men’s 1500 metres is one of the most competitive and exciting events in athletics right now. While I was proud to have represented Kenya at my fifth consecutive World Championships last summer, it took me some time to recover from a knee injury, that was affecting my performances. My race fitness is not where I would like to be at this time of the year, but the most important thing is that I am healthy. I am looking forward to racing in Doha, a country where I have such wonderful memories of winning a world gold, and putting down an important marker as I build to the Kenyan Olympic Trials”.
Nordas won the world bronze medal in the 1500 metres in Budapest in 3:29.68 finishing just three hundredths of a second behind his countryman Jakob Ingebrigtsen. Nordas improved his PBs to 3:29.47 in the 1500m at the Bislett Games in Oslo and 13:05.38 in the 5000 metres in Heusden Zolder. In 2024 he finished fifth in the 1500m at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow. He opened his outdoor season with a win in the 1500m in Huelva in 3:34.11.
Reynold Cheruiyot won the world under 20 gold medal in the 1500 metres in Cali 2022 and broke the world under 20 record over the mile distance with 3:48.06 at the 2023 Diamond League Final in Eugene last September. The 19-year-old Kenyan athlete won the 1500m at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi with 3:31.96.
The line-up also features Samuel Tefera from Ethiopia, two-time world indoor 1500 metres champion and former world indoor record holder with 3:31.04, Adel Mechaal, Spanish indoor record holder and fifth in the 1500 metres at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021, and Abel Kipsang from Kenya, fourth at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021 in 3:29.56 and at the World Championships in 3:29.89 in Budapest 2023.
Men’s discus throw:
Kristjan Ceh from Slovenia will go head-to-head against Matthew Denny from Australia. Ceh will return to Doha where he won last year with 70.89m, one of the eight Diamond League victories of his career. The Slovenian thrower won the world gold medal in Eugene 2022 with 71.13m and two silver medals at the European Championships in Munich 2022 with 68.28m and at the World Championships in Budapest 2023 with 70.02m. He improved his PB to 71.86m in Johvi last year. He claimed the Diamond League title in 2022
Denny finished fourth at the World Championships in Budapest with 68.24m and won the Diamond Trophy in Eugene in 2023 with 68.43m beating Ceh and Daniel Stahl. The Australian thrower won the Australian tile in Adelaide last April with a national record of 69.35m.
The line-up will feature Lukas Weissheidinger from Austria, Olympic bronze medallist in Tokyo 2021 and national record holder with 70.68m, Alin Alexandru Firfirica from Romania, fourth at the World Championships in Doha 2019 and winner at the European Throwing Cup in Leiria with 66.07m this year, Lawrence Okoye from Great Britain, silver medallist at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and bronze medallist at the European Championships in 2022, and Sam Mattis, two-time US champion in 2019 and 2023.
Men’s long jump:
Reigning Olympic, world and European champion Miltiadis Tentoglou will compete for the first time at the Diamond League meeting in Doha.
Tentoglou won his second world indoor title in Glasgow last March beating Italy’s Mattia Furlani with 8.22m on countback. The Greek long jumper claimed his first global medal, when he finished second at the World under 20 Championships in Bydgoszcz 2016.
He won the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo 2021 with a leap to 8.41m in his sixth attempt. He confirmed his reputation as excellent championship performer last August, when he won his first world outdoor gold medal in Budapest with 8.52m in the final round. During his career Tentoglou won two world indoor gold medals in Belgrade with 8.55m and Glasgow 2024 with 8.22m, the world outdoor silver medal in Eugene 2022 and the gold medal at the European outdoor Championships in Munich 2022 with 8.52m. He has won seven European titles in all age categories since 2017. He won the Diamond League final in Zurich in 2022 with 8.42m and a total of eight competitions in his career since 2021.
Simon Ehammer won the Diamond League title in the long jump in Eugene in 2023 with 8.22m and made a successful return to combined events last winter by winning the world indoor gold medal in the eptathlon with 6418 points.
Tajay Gayle from Jamaica returns to Doha, where he won the world gold medal with a national record of 8.69m. Gayle placed third with 8.27m at the World Championships in Budapest 2023.
The other Jamaican star in the field is Carey McLeod, who finished fourth at the World Championships in Budapest and won the world indoor bronze medal in Glasgow.
Women’s high jump:
Eleanor Patterson from Australia will go head-to-head against Angelina Topic from Serbia. Patterson won the world gold medal in Eugene 2022 with 2.02m and finished second at the World indoor Championships in Belgrade 2022 and at the World Championships in Budapest 2023.
Topic won the European bronze medal in Munich 2022, the under 20 gold medal in Jerusalem 2023, and finished seventh at the World Championships in Budapest 2023 and fifth at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow 2024.
The other athletes in the line-up are Lia Apostolovski, world indoor bronze medallist in Glasgow 2024 with 1.95m, Iryna Gerashchenko from the Ukraine, fourth at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021, Morgan Lake from Great Britain, fourth at the World Championships in Budapest 2023 with 1.97m.
