Diamond League Doha Event by Event Preview
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The Seashore Group Doha meeting opens the 2023 Diamond League season in great style with one of the best-ever fields in its history. The line-up includes 15 reigning individual Olympic champions and world champions, including local star Mutaz Barshim in the high jump. The expected highlights are the women’s 100 metres with Shericka Jackson, 1500 metres with Faith Kipyegon, pole vault with Katie Moon, the men’s 200 metres with Fred Kerley and Michael Norman, 3000 metres with Soufiane El Bakkali and javelin with Anderson Peters and Neeraj Chopra.
Women’s 100 metres:
Reigning 200 metres world champion Sherika Jackson will start her Wanda Diamond League campaign in the 100 metres in Doha against a star-studded line-up that also features former 200 metres champion Dina Asher Smith, Abby Steiner, Melissa Jefferson and Twanisha Terry, three of the members of the US World Championships winning 4x100 relay team, and 2019 NCAA champion Sha’Carri Richardson.
Jackson has become the first athlete to win a full set of World Championships medals across three sprint disciplines (100m, 200m and 400m) and is the first Jamaican sprinter to have run under the 11 seconds in the 100m (PB 10.71), under the 22 seconds in the 200m (PB 21.45) and under the 50 seconds in the 400 metres (PB 49.47). She won the 200 metres world gold medal in Eugene in 21.45 missing Florence Griffith Joyner’s world record by just 11 hundredths of a second. She also won the world silver medal in the 100m and in the 4x100 relay on the Hayward Field and won five Olympic medals in her career. Most recently she won the gold medal in the 4x100 relay and two bronze medals in the 100m and in the 4x400 relay at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. She improved her 100m PB to 10.71 at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Monaco last August and won the Diamond Trophy in the 200m by claiming first place in Zurich in 21.80. In last year’s edition of the Diamond League she also won two more 200m races in Rome (21.91) and Chorzow (21.84) and the 100m in Brussels in 10.73 and finished second in last year’s edition of the Doha meeting in 22.07 and in the 100m in Zurich in 10.81. Jackson set the fastest time in the world in 2023 with 10.82 at the Velocity Fest meeting in Kingston on 22 April and clocked a seasonal best of 50.92m in the 400 metres.
Shericka Jackson: “After starting my season with a 400 metres, I am excited to drop down in distance to race over 100 metres in Doha. I know I am in good shape after running my quickest 400 metres race since 2019, but it’s time to sharpen up and run really fast”.
Asher Smith won three European gold medals in the 100m, 200m and in the 4x100 relay in Berlin 2018, the world title in the 200 metres and the silver medal in the 100m in Doha 2019. Most recently the British sprinter won the bronze medal in the 200m at the World Championships in Eugene in 22.02. Asher Smith set the British records in the 100m with 10.83 and in the 200m with 21.88 at the World Championships in Doha 2019 and won two Olympic bronze medals in the 4x100 relay in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2021. She claimed the Diamond League Trophy in the 100m in Brussels 2019. Last winter she broke the British indoor record in the 60m twice clocking 7.04 in Karlsruhe and 7.03 in Birmingham.
Jackson has won four of the five previous head-to-head races against Asher Smith in the 100 metres.
Abby Steiner won the NCAA outdoor title in 2022 in 21.80, the US National title in her lifetime best of 21.77 and finished fifth in the 200 metres final in Eugene in 22.26 a few days before winning two world gold medals in both the 4x100 and the 4x400 relays. She set a PB of 10.90 in the 100 metres at the NCAA Championships in Eugene.
Melissa Jefferson won the US National title in the 100 metres in Eugene last year in a wind-assisted 10.69 after setting her PB of 10.82 in the semifinal. She placed eighth in the 100m final at the World Championships in Eugene in 11.03.
Twanisha Terry, world under 20 silver medallist in the 100m in Tampere 2018, improved her PB to 10.82 in Memphis last year. Terry won the 100 metres in Gaborone in 11.05.
Sha’Carri Richardson, who won the NCAA title in 10.75 in 2019, ran a wind-assisted 10.57 at the Miramar Invitational last April and finished second in the 200 metres in Gaborone in 22.54. She set her PB of 10.72 in Miramar in 2021.
The star-studded line-up is completed by Teahana Daniels, who won the Olympic 4x100 silver medal in Tokyo and set a PB of 10.83 in the 100m, and Zoe Hobbs, Oceania champion and New Zealand national record holder with 10.97.
Women’s 1500 metres:
Two-time Olympic and world champion Faith Kipyegon will start her 2023 outdoor season in Doha. The 29-year-old set the second fastest time in history in the 1500 metres clocking 3:50.37 in the Monaco Diamond League meeting last August a few weeks after winning her second world title in Eugene. With this performance, the Kenyan star missed Genzebe Dibaba’s world record by just three tenths of a second.
The 29-year-old Kenyan athlete holds seven of the top 20 fastest times in history. She is the athlete with the most sub-four performances. She is trained alongside world marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge under the guidance of former 3000 metres steeplechaser Patrick Sang.
She made her come-back in 2019 after giving birth to her daughter in 2018 and finished second in the 1500m at the World Championships in Doha, won her second consecutive Olympic gold medal in Tokyo 2021 in 3:53:11 and won her second world title in Eugene in 3:52.96 five years after her first triumph at these championships in London.
Kipyegon won three Diamond Trophies in 2017, 2021 and 2022.
She finished second in the 3000 metres in 8.38.05 in last year’s edition of the Doha Diamond League meeting.
Faith Kipyegon: “I am delighted to come back again to the Doha Diamond League. After a winter of focusing on endurance and strength, it’s a great chance for me to start real racing in Doha and to see where I am in the build-up towards the World Championships later on in the season”.
Kipyegon will take on Ethiopia’s Birke Haylom, reigning 1500m world under 20 champion in the 1500m in Cali, Lemlem Hailu, world indoor champion in the 3000m in Belgrade 2022, Konstanze Klosterhalfen from Germany, world bronze medallist and European champion in Munchen in the 5000 metres, Axumawit Embaye and Hirut Meshesha from Ethiopia, who finished second and third in the 1500 metres at the 2022 World Indoor Championships in Belgrade.
Men’s 200 metres:
Olympic 100 metres silver medallist Fred Kerley will go up against reigning 400 metres world champion Michael Norman, Olympic and world 200 metres silver medallist Kenny Bednarek, and Olympic 200 metres champion André De Grasse.
Kerley will return to the Doha Diamond League meeting, where he finished runner-up to two-time world champion Noah Lyles in a wind-assisted 19.75 last year. Kerley won the US title in Eugene in the 100 metres in 9.76 and went on to win his first world title in 9.86 on the same Hayward Field track. In the world championships heats he clocked his third consecutive sub-9.8 performance with 9.79. Kerley set his PB of 19.76 in the 200m in Nairobi in 2021. Kerley started the 2023 season with two wins in the 200m in 20.32 at the Maurie Plant meeting in Melbourne and in the 400m in 44.65 in Sydney.
Norman won two world titles in the 400 metres title in 44.29 and in the 4x400 in 2:56.17 in Eugene and the Olympic gold medal in the 4x400 relay after finishing fifth in the 400 metres in Tokyo 2021. He won two Diamond League races in the 200 metres in Paris in 19.84 and in Rome in 19.70 in 2019. In his previous appearance in the Doha Diamond League meeting Norman won the 400 metres in 2021 beating Kerley, who finished third.
Norman has decided to swith to the 100 and this year after winning the world 400m title in Eugene and plans to race the shorter distance at the US Championships in Eugene from 6 to 9 July with the goal to qualify for this event at the World Championships in Budapest.
Michael Norman: “We have always had this idea that, once I accomplish the goals that I want to in the 400 metres, the goal is to drop down to the 100 metres.I can comfortably say that I have achieved what I wanted to achieve in the 400 metres and I can start challenging myself and trying something new in attempting to medal and break records in the 100 metres”.
Norman and Kerley are two of three sprinters to run sub-10 seconds in the 100 metres, sub-20 seconds in the 200 metres and sub-44 seconds in the 400 metres.
De Grasse won six Olympic medals including the win in the 200 metres in Tokyo in 2021 in a national record of 19.62 and the bronze in the 100 metres in 9.89 and reached the podium at the World Championships four times. His preparation for the World Championships was hampered by injury and a bout of covid. At the World Championships De Grasse reached the semifinal in the 100 metres and withdrew from the 200 metres, but he bounced back by winning the world gold medal in the 4x100 relay. He returns to Doha, where he won the silver in the 200 metres and the bronze medal in the 100 metres at the 2019 World Championships. He finished fourth in the Doha Diamond League meeting last year in a wind-assisted 20.15. This year he anchored the Canadian 4x400 relay to 37.80 at the Florida Relays in Gainesville and finished third in 20.41 in Gaborone last Saturday.
De Grasse linked up with his new coach John Coghlan at the end of last year.
André De Grasse: “While it was special to win the relay in Eugene, I have got unfinished business at the World Championships. Everything about my set-up is still pretty new. But I am grateful after a tough 2022 season that we have got time to figure things out and prepare well, and I am excited to get back on the track in Doha against some of the best guys on the circuit”
Kenny Bednarek won the silver medals in the 200 metres at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021 in 19.68 and at the World Championships in Eugene 2022 in 19.77. The US sprinter won the Diamond League final in the 200m in Zurich in 2021 in 19.70 beating De Grasse by 0.02. He started the 2023 season with a third place in 20.37 in Miramar.
Another sprinter to watch is Liberia’s Joseph Fahnbulleh, who finished fifth at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021 in 19.98 and fourth at the World Championships in Eugene 2022 in 19.84. Fahnbulleh won two NCAA titles in the 100 metres and 200 metres in Eugene last year. He started the 2023 season with a second place in the 100 metres in a PB of 9.98 at the Tom Jones Invitational in Gainesvelle last April. Fahnbulleh finished third in the 200 metres in 20.14 in Gaborone last Saturday.
The line-up also features Jamaica’s Andrew Hudson, who won the NACAC Championships in Freeport in his lifetime best in 19.87. Hudson clocked a seasonal best of 10.07 in the 100m in Miramar last April.
Women’s pole vault:
The star-studded women’s pole vault line-up features the top-five finishers of the World Championships in Eugene 2022 and seven global medallists.
Reigning world and Olympic Katie Moon (née Nageotte) will take on world silver medallist and two-time world indoor champion Sandi Morris, last year’s world outdoor bronze medallist and Diamond League champion Nina Kennedy from Australia, reigning European Indoor and outdoor champion Wilma Murto from Finland, 2022 world indoor and European bronze medallist Tina Sutej from Slovenia, 2016 Olympic champion and 2017 world gold medallist Katerina Stefanidi from Greece, 2021 Olympic bronze medallist Holly Bradshaw from Great Britain, 2018 Commonwealth champion Alysha Newman from Canada, 2019 World University Games bronze medallist Bridget Williams from the USA, and Roberta Bruni, fourth in the Wanda Diamond League final in Zurich and national outdoor record holder with 4.72m in Rovereto in 2022.
Moon is ranked fourth on the world all-time list with her PB of 4.95m set at the US Olympic Trials in Eugene. She won the world indoor silver medal behind Morris in Belgrade 2022 and the world outdoor title in Eugene. She won her first international competition of the 2021 with 4.84m in spite of jumping on new poles after hers were broken in transit. During the 2023 indoor season she won three of her four competitions in New York with 4.81m, Liévin with 4.83m and at the US Championships in Albuquerque with 4.80m.
Katie Moon: “I am getting excited to get my outdoor season underway after a fun indoor season. I have been working hard this pre-season, especially on my strength, and I am hoping to get my Wanda Diamond League campaign off to a good start. Winning in Doha in 2021 was a really incredible way to start what was an unforgettable year, and I just hope to replicate that as I work towards defending my world title this summer”.
Morris won the world silver medal in Eugene with 4.85m and finished second in the past three editions of the World outdoor Championships, the Olympic silver medal in Rio 2016 and two world indoor gold medals. The US pole vaulter set the US outdoor record of 5.00m in Brussels in 2016. She claimed the win at two editions of the Doha meeting with 4.83m in 2016 and 4.84m in 2018.
Kennedy won the world bronze medal with 4.80m in Eugene, the Commonwealth gold medal and the Diamond League Final in Zurich in 2022 with 4.81m. The Australian vaulter set the national record with 4.82m in Sydney in 2021.
Murto won the European outdoor title with a national record of 4.85m in Munich 2022 and the European indoor gold in Istanbul 2023 with 4.80m.
Sutei won the European outdoor bronze medal in Munich 2022 and the European indoor silver medal in Istanbul 2023 with the same height of 4.75m.
Men’s high jump:
Barshim won his third consecutive world outdoor gold medal in the men’s high jump in Eugene in 2022 with a world leading mark of 2.37m. Two years ago he shared the Olympic gold medal with his friend Gianmarco Tamberi with 2.37m in Tokyo in 2021.
Barshim took the win at two editions of the Doha meeting in 2017 with 2.36m and in 2018 with 2.40m. He set the Asian record of 2.43m in Brussels in 2014 placing second on the world all-time list.
Mutaz Barshim: “Whenever I step on the track, I always want to give my best. That has been the case since my first appearance back in Doha in 2011. High jump is my passion and I want to make sure that my name is mentioned whenever high jump is mentioned. I have made history being on top of my game for the past decade, but I still thrive for more. The 2023 season is about to begin, and I have set my own goals and my targets to chase. The World Championshps in Budapest and the Asian Games in China are my top targets for the season. It’s important that I prioritise my health and stay consistent with a routine that works for me. My training in Qatar went smoothly over the winter and I look forward to my Wanda Diamond League season-opener in Doha”.
Barshim will renew his rivalry against Sanghyeok Woo from South Korea. It will be a re-match of last year’s Doha meeting, where Woo won with 2.33m, while Barshim cleared 2.30m. Woo placed fourth at the Olympic Games in Tokyo with 2.35m, won the world indoor title in Belgrade 2022 and the world outdoor silver medal in Eugene behind Barshim with 2.35m last July.
The other athletes to watch are Ju’Vaughn Harrison, winner at the NCAA Championships and at the US Olympic Trials in 2021 in the high jump and long jump and second in last year’s Diamond League final with 2.34m in Zurich, USA’s Shelby McEwen and Canada’s Django Lovett, respectively fifth and sixth at the World Championships in Eugene with 2.30m, Thomas Carmoy from Belgium, European indoor bronze medal in Torun 2021, Edgar Rivera from Mexico, fourth at the World Championships in London 2017, and Tomohiro Shinno from Japan, two-time national champion in 2020 and 2022 with 2.30m, Norbert Kobielski from Poland, European under 23 bronze medallist in Gavle 2019 and fifth at the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul 2022.
Men’s 400 metres hurdles:
Raj Benjamin will make his third appearance at the Doha meeting after his win in 2021 in 47.38 and his second place behind Alison Dos Santos in 2022 in 47.49. The US hurdler won the Olympic silver medal in Tokyo behind world record holder Karsten Warholm setting the US record with 46.17 and two world silver medals in Doha 2019 in 47.66 and Eugene in 46.89. He also won two gold medals with the 4x400 relay at the World Championships in Doha 2019 in 2:56.89 and at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2:55.70. This season the 2018 NCAA champion clocked 47.74 in his first 400m hurdles race of the year at the Mt. Sac Relay in Walnut and won two 400 metres races in Gainesville in 44.94 and Los Angeles in 44.21.
Benjamin will take on his compatriots Trevor Bassitt and Khallifah Rosser and Frenchman Wilfried Happio.
Bassitt won the world indoor silver in the 400m in Belgrade and the world bronze medal in the 400m hurdles in Eugene in his lifetime best of 47.39. Bassitt took the win in the 400m hurdles in the Gaborone Continental Tour Gold meeting in 48.43.
Rosser ran consistently last year breaking the 48 seconds barrier six times. Rosser finished fifth at the World Championships in Eugene in 47.88 and second at the Diamond League final in Zurich in 47.76.
Happio finished fourth at the World Championships in Eugene in his PB of 47.41 (missing Stephane Diagana’s French record by just 0.04) and won the European silver medal behind Warholm in Munich in 48.56 and gold medals at both the European Under 20 Championships in Grosseto 2017 and at the European Under 23 Championships in Gavle 2019.
The other athletes to watch are Sokhwakana Zazini from South Africa, world under 20 champion in Tampere 2018 and second to Bassitt in Gaborone in 48.58, CJ Allen, third at the NACAC Championships in Freeport in 48.23 and winner at the Drake Relays in Des Moines in 48.78 last Saturday, Thomas Barr from Ireland, fourth at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 47.97 and third at the 2018 European Championships in Berlin in 48.31, and Ismail Nezir, world under 20 champion in Cali in 48.84.
Men’s 3000 metres:
The men’s 3000 metres line-up features five winners of global titles.
Lamecha Girma from Ethiopia will make his outdoor debut over the 3000 metres flat distance. Girma won two world silver medals in the 3000m steeplechase in Doha 2019 and Eugene 2022 and the Olympic silver medal in this discipline in Tokyo 2021.
Girma set the world indoor record clocking 7:23.81 in the Liévin World Indoor Tour Gold meeting last February. The 22-year-old Ethiopian athlete took more than one second off the previous record that had been held by Kenya’s Daniel Komen for 25 years. Only Komen and Hicham El Guerrouj have run faster than Girma outdoors. He also won the world indoor silver medal in the 3000 metres in Belgrade 2022 and set the Ethiopian record in the 3000m steeplechase with 7:58.68 in Ostrava last year.
Girma will take on reigning world and Olympic 3000 metres steeplechase champion Soufiane El Bakkali from Morocco. El Bakkali won the gold medals at the Olympic Games in Tokyo and at the World Championships in Eugene beating Girma both times. In his two recent appearances in the Doha meeting El Bakkali improved his PB to 3:31.95 in the 1500 metres in 2021 and won the 3000 metres steeplechase in 8:09.66 in 2022. The Moroccan athlete set the world seasonal best of 7:58.28 in Rabat, narrowly missing his lifetime best of 7:58.15, and won the Diamond League final in Zurich in 2022. He closed last year with a national record of 5:14.06 in the 2000 metres steeplechase in Zagreb, a mark which moved him to third in the world all-time list.
El Bakkali and Girma, who are ranked 10th and 12th on the 3000 metres steeplechase all-time list, have never gone head-to-head on a 3000m flat. El Bakkali beat Girma on each their last five head-to-head races in the 3000 metres steeplechase.
Soufiane El Bakkali: “This is a big year for me as I prepare to defend my world title in Budapest and I want to get it off to a good start. I was under pressure to win in Eugene last summer. That pressure remains as I continue to set myself big goals. It takes hard work and sacrifice to be the best and I know I still have more to give. By racing against such a strong field in this opening meeting of the Wanda Diamond League I will see how much work I still have to do. I feel privileged to have such great supporters in Qatar and it means a lot to open my season at the Doha meeting where I know they will get behind me and push me to great things”.
Timothy Cheruyiot from Kenya, world outdoor champion in Doha 2019 in the 1500m and Olympic silver medallist behind Jakob Ingebrigtsen over this distance in Tokyo 2021, returns to the Doha Diamond League meeting where he won in 2021 in 3:30.48.
The star-studded line-up also features Ethiopia’s Selemon Barega, Olympic champion in the 10000 metres in Tokyo 2021 and world indoor gold medallist in the 3000 metres in Belgrade 2022, Oscar Chelimo from Uganda, world 5000 metres bronze medallist, Ishmael Kipkirui, world under 20 cross country champion in Bathurst 2023.
Men’s javelin throw:
The Doha Diamond League meeting will reunite all three medallist from the men’s javelin throw at the World Championships in Eugene 2022, as double world champion Anderson Peters will take on reigning Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra and two-time Diamond League champion Jakub Vadlejch.
Chopra became the first Indian athlete to set a world record in the under 20 category when he won the world under 20 title in Bydgoszcz 2016. It was the first time an Indian athlete had won a world title in athletics. He became the first Indian athlete to win a gold medal at the Asian Games in 2018. He made history in Tokyo when he became the first Indian athlete to win the Olympic gold medal in athletics. The 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medallist improved his PB by almost two metres with a throw of 89.94m to finish second at last year’s Diamond League meeting in Stockolm. Chopra won his first Diamond League competition in Lausanne with 89.06m last year and crowned a successful 2022 season with a win in the Diamond League final in Zurich with 88.44m becoming the first Indian athlete to win the Diamond Trophy. He will make his first appearance at the Doha meeting after missing last year’s edition due to an injury problem.
Anderson Peters and Jakub Vadlejch threw beyond the 90 metres barrier for the first time in their careers at last year’s edition of the Doha meeting. Peters claimed the win with a PB of 93.07m in the final round. This mark moved to fifth in the world all-time list. The Grenadan thrower successfully defended his world title in Eugene and threw beyond the 90 metres barrier four times in his career.
Vadlejch also improved his PB to 90.88m in Doha last year producing his first ever throw over the 90 metres barrier. The Czech thrower won the Olympic silver medal in Tokyo 2021 with 86.67m, the world bronze medal in Eugene with 88.09m and the European silver in Munich with 87.28m in 2022. He set a world leading mark of 88.38m in Potchefstroom (South Africa) on 18 April 2023.
Julian Weber from Germany also returns to Doha, where he finished third with 86.09m last year. Weber won the European gold medal on home soil in Munich last August with 87.66m and placed fourth at the World Championships in Eugene with 86.86m. Weber improved his PB to 89.54m in Hengelo.
The other medallists at global championships in the line-up are 2012 Olympic champion and national record holder Keshorn Walcott from Trinidad and Tobago (PB 90.16m) and Kenya’s Julius Yego, world champion in Bejing 2015, Olympic silver medallist in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and national record holder with 92.72m.
The starting list is completed by Finland’s Oliver Helander, winner at the Turku Continental Tour meeting with 89.23m and eighth in the World Championships in Eugene, Moldova’s Andrian Mardare, seventh at the Olympic Games in Tokyo and at the World Championships in Eugene, and Japan’s Roderick Genki Dean, national champion in 2022.
Men’s discus throw:
World champion Kristjan Ceh from Slovenia will renew his rivalry against Olympic gold medallist Daniel Stahl in the men’s discus throw competition.
Ceh dominated the 2022 season winning the world gold medal in Eugene with 71.13m and five Diamond League competitions in Birmingham (71.27m), Rabat (69.68m), Rome (70.72m), Stockolm (70.02m) and in the Zurich Final (67.10m). He lost only one competition at the European Championships in Munich, where finished second to Mykolas Alekna with 68.28m. This year the Slovenian thrower took the win at the European Throwing Cup in Leiria with 68.30m last March beating Stahl (65.95m).
Stahl won the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo 2021 with 68.90m, the world title in Doha 2019 with 67.59m and three Diamond League Trophies in 2016, 2019 and 2021.
The line-up also features Simon Petterson from Sweden, Olympic silver medallist behind Stahl in Tokyo with 67.39m, fifth at the World Championships in Eugene 2022 with 67.00m and fourth at the European Championships in Munich 2022 with 67.12m, Matthew Denny from Australia, fourth at the World Championships in Eugene with 67.02m, Alin Alexandru Firfirica from Romania, fourth at the World Championships in Doha 2019, USA’s Sam Mattis, who finished eighth at the Olympic Games in Tokyo and threw 67.49m in San Diego this year, and Lawrence Okoye from Great Britain, European bronze medallist in Munich with 67.14m.
Men’s triple jump:
Portugal’s Pedro Pablo Pichardo will renew his battle against US Christian Taylor in a re-match of their 2015 battle in Doha. In that edition of this meeting both Pichardo and Taylor went beyond the magic 18 metres barrier jumping 18.06m and 18.04m.
Pichardo won an hat-trick of major outdoor titles in the past two years clinching gold medals at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021 with 17.98m, at the World Championships in Eugene 2022 with 17.95m and at the European Championships in Munich with 17.50m. Last winter the Portuguese jumper won his second consecutive European Indoor gold medal with 17.60m.
Taylor won four world outdoor titles in Daegu 2011, Beijing 2015, London 2017 and Doha 2019 and two Olympic gold medals in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2021. The US triple jump star made his come-back from a serious Achilles tendon injury last year and jumped 16.89m in his first competition of the 2023 season at the Tom Jones Memorial in Gainesville.
Fabrice Zango from Burkina Faso will make his first outdoor appearance this season. Last summer he won the silver medal at the World Championships in Eugene with 17.55m three years after the bronze medal in Doha 2019 with 17.66m behind Christian Taylor and Will Claye. The Olympic bronze medallist jumped 17.48m in Val de Reuil and 17.43m in Paris Bercy.
Former Cuban jumper Andy Diaz will compete for the first time as Italian citizen. Diaz is coached by 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Fabrizio Donato and former Italian jumper Andrea Matarazzo in Rome. Diaz won the Diamond League in Zurich with his PB of 17.70 and clinched two more competitions in the circuit in Chorzow with 17.53m and Lausanne with 17.67m. Diaz set an indoor seasonal best of 17.09m in Val de Reuil last February. He aims to improve the Italian record held by Donato, who jumped 17.60m in Milan in 2000.
Another Italian jumper with strong ambitions for this season is Emmanuel Ihemeje, who placed fifth in World Championships in Eugene with 17.17m. Ihemeje won the NCAA indoor and outdoor titles in 2021 for the Oregon Ducks. He has now moved to California. Ihemeje leads the early season world outdoor with his 17.29m at the Mt. Sac Relays in Walnut where he also produced a wind-assisted 17.47m.
The strong line-up also features Zhu Yaming from China, Olympic silver medallist in Tokyo, world bronze medallist in Eugene and Chinese indoor champion with 17.36m this year, Lazaro Martinez, world indoor gold medallist in Belgrade with 17.64m ahead of Pichardo, and US Donald Scott, third at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade 2022.
Women’s 100 metres hurdles:
Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho Quinn will make her second appearance in Doha four years after finishing fifth in 2019 in 12.85. Camacho Quinn won the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo in 12.37 after improving his national record and the Olympic record with 12.26 in 2021 and the world bronze medal in Eugene in a wind-assisted 12.23. Camacho Quinn performed very well in the Diamond League last year winning in Eugene, Rome, Stockolm, Chorzow, Lausanne and Brussels. She made a seasonal debut with a wind-assisted 12.29 in Jacksonville last weekend.
Camacho Quinn will go head-to-head against 2019 world champion Nia Ali, who clocked 12.53 in Gainesville and 12.67 in Des Moines this year, Alaysha Johnson, who finished second at the US Championships in 2022 in 12.35 in Eugene and NACAC Champion in Freeport in 12.62, Tonea Marshall, fourth at the 2022 US Championships in Eugene in 12.55, Reetta Hurske from Finland, European Indoor record holder in the 60 metres hurdles in Istanbul in 7.79 and winner of two World Indoor Tour Gold meetings in Torun and Madrid in 2023, Devynne Charlton from the Bahamas, world indoor silver medallist in Belgrade 2022, Olympic bronze medallist Megan Tapper from Jamaica, and Michelle Janneke from Australia, national champion in Brisbane in 12.77 and winner at the Maurie Plant meeting in Melbourne (Continental Tour Gold meeting) in 12.75.
Women’s 400 metres:
Marileidy Paulino from Dominican Republic will chase her second straight win in the women’s 400 metres at the Doha Diamond League meeting following her first place in last year’s edition in 51.20. Paulino won two silver medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 49.20 and at the World Championships in Eugene in 49.60. She also won the gold medal in the 4x400 mixed relay in Eugene and in the Diamond League final in Zurich last year with a national record of 48.99 beating her compatriot Fiordaliza Cofil.
Paulino will take on Sada Williams, world bronze medallist in Eugene in a national record of 49.75, USA’s Shamier Little, who won the world silver medal in the 400 metres hurdles in Beijing and set PBs in the 400m of 49.91 in Miramar and 52.39 in Stockolm in the 400m hurdles in 2021, Jamaican 400m specialists Stephanie Ann McPherson and Candice McLeod, who finished fourth and fifth at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021.
Women’s 3000 metres steeplechase:
Reigning Olympic champion Peruth Chemutai from Uganda will face Mekides Abebe from Ethiopia, who won the world bronze medal in Eugene in 8.56.08 in 2022 and finished fourth at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Winfred Yavi Mutile from Barhein, who finished fourth in two consecutive editions of the World Championships in Doha 2019 and Eugene 2022 and winner at last year’s Diamond League meeting in Paris with a national record of 8:56.55, Sembo Almayew from Ethiopia, second at the World Under 20 Championships in Cali 2022 and world under 20 record holder with 9:09.19 at the Diamond League meeting in Paris Charlety last year, Beatrice Chepkoech, world champion in Doha 2019 and world record holder with 8:44.32 in the Monaco Diamond League meeting in 2018, USA’s Emma Coburn, Olympic bronze medallist in Rio de Janeiro 2016, world champion in London 2017 and world silver medallist in Doha 2019 in 9:02.35, and Kenya’s Jackline Chepkoech, world under 20 champion in Nairobi 2021, Commonwealth Games gold medallist in Birmingham and winner at the Diamond League meeting in Brussels in her PB of 9:02.43 in 2022.
Men’s 800 metres:
Kenyan middle-distance runners Wycliffe Kinyamal and Noah Kibet took the win in the men’s 800 metres at the past two editions of the Doha meeting and will return to Qatar searching for a second win. Two-time Commonwealth Games champion Kinyamal won one of the five Diamond League races of his career in Doha in 2021 in 1:43.91.
Kibet won the world under 20 bronze medal in Nairobi in 2021, the world indoor silver in Belgrade in 2022 and went on to claim his first Diamond League win in Doha las year.
The line-up also features 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Clayton Murphy from the USA, Algerian middle-distance runners Djamel Sedjati, world silver medallist in Eugene in 1:44.14, and Slimane Moula, fifth at the World Championships in Eugene and winner at the Diamond League meeting in Stockolm in 1:44.60 last year, and Morocco’s Mohad Zahafi, who won the NCAA outdoor title in Eugene in 2022 in 1:44.49 and set a PB of 1:43.69 in Gainesville in 2022.
