Preview: Warholm and Dos Santos Headline Star-Studded Xiamen Diamond League
Just one week after a spectacular opening meeting in Keqiao, the 2026 Wanda Diamond League continues in Xiamen on Saturday, May 23 with another world-class programme at the spectacular Egret Stadium. Olympic champions, world record holders and Diamond League winners will gather in the coastal Chinese city for a meeting packed with rematches, season debuts and high-stakes clashes across the track and field disciplines. From the renewed rivalry between Karsten Warholm and Alison Dos Santos in the men’s 400m hurdles to elite sprint battles, global champions in the throws and distance stars chasing fast times, Xiamen promises one of the strongest early-season meetings of the year.
Men’s 400 metres hurdles:
Alison Dos Santos will renew his rivalry against Karsten Warholm in a re-match of the 300 metres hurdles race in the opening leg of the Diamond League in Keqiao. They will return to the 400 metres hurdles in Xiamen.
Two-time Diamond League champion Alison Dos Santos from Brazil won in Keqiao in 33.01 holding off Warholm by 0.04 moving to second on the world all-time list. Waholm leads 12-7 in his head-to-head races, but the Brazilian hurdler finished ahead of his Norwegian rival in their past clashes over 400 metres hurdles at the Diamond League meeting in Stockolm and at the World Championships in Tokyo.
The Brazilian athlete won two Olympic bronze medals in Tokyo 2021 in 46.72 and Paris 2024 in 47.26 and is the third fastest hurdler in history with his South American record of 46.29 set at the World Championships in Eugene 2022.
World record holder Karsten Warholm will return to Xiamen one year after setting his first world all-time best in the 300 metres hurdles with 33.05. Warholm improved this time to 32.67 in Oslo in front of his home fans.
The Norwegian star broke his own world record with 45.94 in the Olympic final in Tokyo 2021 becoming the first athlete to break the 46 seconds barrier. The three-time world champion won his third Diamond League title in Zurich last year and his first since 2021 setting the meeting record with 46.70. Warholm set the Diamond League record with his winning time of 46.28 in Chorzow last year.
Warholm and Dos Santos will be joined by Abderrahman Samba from Qatar, who won two world bronze medals in Doha 2019 with 48.03 and Tokyo 2025 in 47.06.
Matheus Lima completed the top three in Keqiao in a PB of 33.75. Lima set a PB of 48.08 in the 400 metres hurdles in Keqiao in 2025.
The other athlete to watch is Trevor Bassitt, world bronze medallist in Eugene 2022 and winner in Gainesville in 47.82 last April. Bassitt finished fourth in the 300m hurdles in 34.02. in Keqiao.
The line-up also features Kyron McMaster from British Virgin Island, world bronze medallist in Budapest 2023 in 47.34 and two-time Diamond League champion, Caleb Dean, NCAA champion in 2023 in a PB of 47.23, CJ Allen, who set a PB of 47.58 in Oslo and won his first Diamond League race in Paris in 47.92 in 2023. Chinese fans will cheer on Gong Debin, National champion in 2024.
Women’s 100 metres hurdles:
The women’s 100 metres hurdles will be another re-match of Keqiao. The star-studded line-up features the past five global champions and five of the fastest ten hurdlers in history.
Olympic 100 metres hurdles Masai Russell be seeking a back-to-back Diamond League win after winning in Keqiao in a a world lead of 12.25. This year Russell also won in Lexington in 12.40.
Russell made her debut at the Egret Stadium in Xiamen in 2024, where she finished sixth in 12.67. Later that year she won the US title in 12.25 and the Olympic gold medal in Paris in 12.33. Russell improved the US outdoor record to 12.17 in Miami in 2025 moving to second on the world all-time list and won the US title in 12.22 in Eugene. Russell broke the Diamond League record with 12.19 in Silesia in 2025 and finished fourth at the World Championships in Tokyo a few weeks laer in 12.44. She will renew her rivalry with Kambundji and Amusan, two of the three hurdlers who beat her in Tokyo.
Kambundji opened her outdoor season with a fifth place in 12.72 in Keqiao. The Swiss hurdler enjoyed a very successful season in 2025. She won the European indoor gold medal in Apeldoorn in the 60 metres hurdles in a European record of 7.67 and the world indoor silver medal in Nanjing in 7.73 and went on to win the world outdoor gold medal in the 100 metres hurdles smashing the Swiss record with 12.24. Kambundji finished second to Ackera Nugent in the 2025 Diamond League in Zurich with 12.40. This season she finished fourth in the 60 metres hurdles at the World Indoor Championships in Torun 2026 in 7.75.
Devynne Charlton placed second to Russell in Keqiao improving her Bahamian record to 12.38. She became the first woman to win three straight world indoor titles in the 60 metres hurdles in Glasgow 2024 in 7.65, in Nanjing 2025 in 7.72 and in Torun 2026 equalling her world indoor record.
Amusan finished third in Keqiao in 12.41. The Nigerian hurdler broke the world record in the 100 metres hurdles with 12.12 in the semifinal of the World Championships before winning the world gold medal in the final in a wind-assisted 12.06. She won three Diamond League titles in 2021, 2022 and 2023 and clamed seven wins at Diamond League meetings. The Nigerian hurdler won silver behind Kambundji at the World Championships in Tokyo in 12.29. In her previous two appearances at the Xiamen Diamond League meeting she finished fifth in 2024 and fourth in 2025.
Nugent set the Jamaican record in the 100 metres hurdles with 12.24 at the Diamond League in Rome 2024 and won the world indoor bronze medal in Nanjing 2025. The Jamaican hurdler won the Diamond League title in Zurich in 12.30 beating Kambundji.
Williams returns to Xiamen with a fond memory after winning at last year’s edition of this meeting in 12.53. The Jamaican hurdler won two world outdoor titles in Beijing 2015 and Budapest 2023. She improved her PB by 0.01 to 12.31 at the Diamond League meeting in Silesia last year and finished seventh in the final of the World Championships in Tokyo 2025 in 12.53.
Megan Simmonds, Olympic bronze medallist in Tokyo 2021 and Jamaican champion in 2025, started her Diamond League season with a fourth place in Keqiao in 12.73.
Tonea Marshall set a PB of 12.24 at the Diamond League meeting in in Chorzow in 2025.
Chinese hurdlers Wu Yanni and Jingyang Liu will count on the support of the 53,000 spectators at the Egret Stadium. Wu won the silver medal at the World University Games in Chengdu in 2023 in 12.76 and the bronze medal at the 2025 Asian Championships. She has a PB of 12.74. Jingyang Liu won the National Games title improving her PB to 12.81.
Men’s 100 metres:
Gift Leotlela will be seeking his second consecutive Diamond League victory in one week after winning his first race in this circuit in Keqiao in 9.97 with a very narrow margin of one hundredth of a second over Ferdinand Omanyala and Kenny Bednarek. Just 0.04 separated the top five sprinters.
Leotlela made his breakthrough in 2016 when he won the silver medal in the 200 metres at the World under 20 Championships in Bydgoszcz and took part at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro at the age of 18. The South African sprinter improved his PB to 9.87 in the heats of the World Championships in Tokyo before finishing fifth in the final.
African 100 metres record holder Ferdinand Omanyala broke the 10 seconds barrier four times this year clocking 9.98 in Addis Abeba, 9.96 at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, 9.95 in Gaborone and 9.98 in Keqiao.
Bednarek finished third in Keqiao in 9.98. Last year the US sprinter won the US 100m title in a PB of 9.79 in 2025 in Eugene. He finished fourth in he 100m in 9.92 at the World Championships in Tokyo 2025.
The US sprinter won two Olympic silver medals in the 200 metres in Tokyo 2021 in 19.68 and in Paris 2024 in 19.62 and two world silver medals in Eugene 2022 in 19.77 and Tokyo 2025 in 19.58. The US sprinter won his second Diamond League title in the 200m in Brussels in 2024 in 19.67 beating Tebogo for the first time in his career. He improved his 200m PB to 19.57 in Zurich in 2024 when he finished second to Tebogo, who ran the third time of his career with 19.55 in that meeting.
Letsile Tebogo is looking to improve on his seventh-place finish in 10.12 in last week’s Diamond League meeting in Keqiao. He won the world silver medal in Budapest 2023 in 9.88 and finished sixth in the Olympic final in Paris 2024 in a PB of 9.86.
The Botswanan sprinter won two Diamond League races in the 200 metres in Doha in 20.10 and Eugene in 19.76 and finished second in Monaco in 19.97 and Zurich in 19.76. He won the Olympic gold medal in Paris 2024 setting the African record with 19.46 and the world gold medal in the 4x400 relay in Tokyo 2025 with 2:57.78).
Coleman won his third Diamond League title in Zurich in 9.97 last year. The US sprinter won the 100 metres world title in Doha 2019 and holds a PB of 9.76.
Akani Simbine will aim to repeat his 100m win in Xiamen last year, when he broke the 10 seconds barrier with 9.99, The South African sprinter has claimed 12 Diamond League wins in his career and holds the all-time record by running under 10 seconds in the 100m for 12 consecutive years.
Trayvon Bromell won two 100 metres world bronze medals in Beijing 2015 and Eugene 2022, the world gold medal in the 4x100 relay in Tokyo 2025 and finished third at the World Indoor Championships in the 60 metres in Torun 2026. Bromell won the Diamond League final in Zurich in 2022 in 9.94. Last year the US sprinter stormed to a win at the Golden Gala in Rome in 9.84.
Australia’s Lachlan Kennedy won the world indoor silver medal in Nanjing 2025 and ran a PB of 9.96 to win the national title in Sydney last April. Bromell and Kennedy finished fourth and fifth in Keqiao with the same time of 10.01.
Women’s 200 metres:
The women’s 200 metres line-up features three global gold medallists.
Double 200m world champion Shericka Jackson will take on two-time Olympic 400 metres champion Shaunae Miller Uibo and 2023 world 100 metres gold medallist Sha’Carri Richardson.
Jackson won in Keqiao last week in 22.07, her fastest time since the 2023 Diamond League Final. The Jamaican sprinter won two consecutive world gold medals in Eugene 2022 in 21.45 and in Budapest 2023 in 21.41 and three Diamond League titles.
Shaunae Miller Uibo finished second in Keqiao in a seasonal best of 22.26, her fastest time since the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021. Miller Uibo won two Olympic gold medals in the 400 metres in Rio de Janeiro 2016 in 49.44 and Tokyo 2021 in 48.36. The Bahamian athlete also won the world title in Eugene 2022 in 49.11. Miller Uibo won 22 Diamond League races and four series titles.
Sha’Carri Richardson finished third in Keqiao in 22.42m. The US sprinter won the world gold medal in Budapest 2023 in the 100 m etres in a PB of 10.65, the Olympic silver medal in 10.87 in Paris 2024 and two world gold medals with the 4x100 in Budapest in 2023 in 41.03 and in Tokyo in 41.75.
Amy Hunt started her season with a win in Florence in the 100m in 11.17 and a fifth place in Keqiao in 22.48. Hunt won the world silver medal in the 200 metres in Tokyo in 2025 after improving her PB to 22.08. The British sprinter also won gold at the European Championships in Rome and silver at the Olympic Games with the 4x100 relay in 2024.
Australian 20-year-old rising star Torrie Lewis returns to Xiamen with a fond memory two years after winning the 200m at this meeting in 22.96 ahead of Sha’Carri Richardson.
Anavia Battle finished third in Keqiao in 22.40 last week. The US sprinter won one of her four Diamond League races in the 200m in 22.41 before finishing fourth at the World Championships in Tokyo in 22.22.
Jenna Prandini, world champion in Eugene 2022 and Olympic silver medallist in Tokyo 2021 in the 4x100 relay, returned to her best form when she clocked 10.97 in the 100 metres and 22.36 in the 200 metres in Tucson this year.
McKenzie Long won two NCAA titles in the 100 metres in 10.82 and 200 metres in 21.83 and finished seventh in the 200 metres in 22.42 at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 and eighth at the World Championships in Tokyo 2025 in 22.78. She set a seasonal best of 22.48 in Gainesville.
Seventeen-year-old Chen Yujie from China won the gold medal at the Asian Championships in Gumi in 22.97 and the Chinese title in 23.21 in 2025. She finished seventh in Keqiao in 22.84.
Men’s long jump:
World champion Mattia Furlani will go head-to-head against Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou from Greece and Bozhidar Saraboykov from Bulgaria.
Furlani will seek the second consecutive Diamond League win one week after taking victory in Keqiao with an outdoor world lead and a PB of 8.43m. Furlani tied Giovanni Evangelisti’s second best mark in Italian long jump history set in 1987. The 21-year-old Italian star missed Andrew Howe’s national record of 8.47m by just four cm.
Furlani won the world indoor in Nanjing 2025 with 8.30m. During the 2026 winter season Furlani won the world indoor silver medal in Torun 2026 equalling his PB of 8.39m.
The Italian long jump star claimed the first world outdoor title with a PB of 8.39m in Tokyo to become the youngest world gold medallist in the men’s long jump, surpassing Carl Lewis, who won the gold medal in Helsinki 1983 at the age of 22. Furlani also won the Olympic bronze medal in Paris with 8.34m and the European outdoor silver medal in Rome with 8.38m in 2024. He finished second behind Simon Ehammer in the Diamond League Final in Zurich with 8.30m in 2025.
Tentoglou will start his Diamond League campaign. The Greek long jumper has won every major title, including gold medals at the last two Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024, the world outdoor gold medal in Budapest 2023 with 8.52m and the European title in Rome 2024 with a PB of 8.65m.
Saraboyoukov will compete for the second time this outdoor season after finishing second with 8.07m in Keqiao. Saraboyukov won the European indoor gold medal in Apeldoorn 2025 with 8.13m beating his Italian rival by just one cm. The Bulgarian athlete improved his PB to 8.45m at the World Indoor Tour meeting in Belgrade and won the world indoor bronze medal in Torun 2026 with 8.31m.
Liam Adcock won the world indoor bronze medal in Nanjing and claimed his first win in a Diamond League meeting in Rome ahead of Furlani with 8.34m. He will be looking to improve on his second place finish at last year’s Diamond League meeting in Xiamen.
Tajay Gayle from Jamaica completed a full set of world medals, winning gold in Doha 2019 with a national record of 8.69m, bronze in Budapest 2023 and silver in Tokyo 2025. His compatriot Wayne Pinnock won silver at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest with 8.50m, at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris with 8.36m and at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing 2025 with 8.29m.
Tobias Montler from Sweden won the world indoor silver medallist at the World indoor Championships in Belgrade 2022, three European indoor silver medals and the Diamond League title in Zurich 2021.
China’s Shi Yuhao won the world outdoor bronze medal in Tokyo with 8.33m and set a PB of 8.43m in 2018.
Men’s 110 metres hurdles:
Jamal Britt will be aiming to achieve a back-to-back win in the Diamond League one week after winning in Keqiao. In this race Britt came through to win equalling his PB of 13.07 for the fourth time in his career. Britt won the NACAC Championships in 2022.
World 110 metres hurdles champion Cordell Tinch has a fond memory of Xiamen, where he won in 13.07 in 2025. One week later Tinch won another Diamond League meeting on Chinese soil in Keqiao in his PB of 12.87 moving to fourth on the world all-time list. The US hurdler claimed three more wins in Diamond League meetings in Chorzow in 13.03, Lausanne in 12.98 and in the Final in Zurich in 12.92. Last September he won his first world title in Tokyo in 12.99. During the 2026 indoor season Tinch improved his PB in the long jump to 8.29m.
Rachid Muratake set the fastest time in the world this year with 13.05 in Osaka and finished third in Keqiao in 13.18. The Japanese hurdler set the Japanese record with 12.92 becoming the first athlete from his country to break the 13 seconds barrier.
The line-up will also feature Orlando Bennett from Jamaica, world silver medallist in Tokyo 2025 behind Tinch and fourth in Keqiao in 13.20; Enrique Llopis from Spain, world indoor silver medallist in Torun 2026 in a national record of 7.42; Jason Joseph from Switzerland, European indoor champion in Istanbul 2023 in a national indoor record of 7.41 in the 60 metres hurdles; Enzo Diessl from Austria, gold medallist at the European under 20 Championships in 2023 and at the European under 23 Championships in 2025; Eric Edwards, second at the NCAA Championships in 2023; Chinese hurdlers Liu Junxi, world indoor bronze medallist in Torun 2026 in the 60 metres hurdles, and Xu Zhuoyi, second at the Asian Championships in 2023.
Men’s shot put:
World record holder Ryan Crouser will take on a star-studded field that features his compatriot Joe Kovacs, Tom Walsh, Leonardo Fabbri, Rajindra Campbell, Adrian Piperi, Uziel Munoz, Roger Steen and Jordan Geist.
Crouser will make his first Diamond League appearance since September 2024 when he finished second in the Finals in Brussels. He battled against an elbow injury in 2025 and was able to start his season at the World Championships in Tokyo where he claimed his third straight world outdoor gold medal with 22.34m. The 33-year-old US shot put legend holds the four longest throws in history, led by his world record of 23.56m in Los Angeles in 2023. Crouser also threw 23.51m at the World Championships in Budapest 2023, 23.37m at the US Olympic Trials in Eugene in 2024 and 23.30m at the Olympic in Tokyo in 2021. He is looking for a winning return in the Diamond League after finishing second to Leonardo Fabbri at the 2024 final.
Walsh won his fourth world indoor gold medal in Torun with 21.82m following his wins in Portland 2016, Birmingham 2018 and Nanjing 2025.
Three-time Olympic silver medallist Joe Kovacs will make his first appearance in China since 2015, when he won the first world outdoor title in Beijing. Kovacs won three Diamond League titles in Zurich in 2022 with his PB of 23.23m becoming the second best shot putter in history, in 2025 with 22.46m and in 2023 in Eugene with 22.93m. He won the silver medal behind Crouser at the past three editions of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro 2016, Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024.
Fabbri claimed back-to-back wins in Florence with 21.43m and Savona with 21.88m. The Italian shot putter won the European gold medal in Rome 2024 with 22.45m and the Diamond League Final with 22.98m moving to fifth on the world all-time list. Fabbri claimed multiple global medals, including two world outdoor medals (silver in Budapest 2023 with 22.34m and bronze in Tokyo 2025 with 21.94m). Fabbri won two more Diamond League in Florence in 2023 with 21.73m and London 2024 with 22.52m. He set a world lead of 22.50m in Stellenbosch and started his outdoor season with a win in Florence with 21.43m.
Campbell won the Olympic bronze medal in Paris 2024 with 22.15m and set a PB of 22.31m at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Zagreb in 2024. The Jamaican shot putter set a seasonal best of 21.94m at the World Indoor Tour meeting in Madrid.
Adrian Piperi won the world indoor bronze medal and set a PB of 22.29m at the US Championships in Eugene in 2025. Piperi will aim to start the 2026 season with a good mark after missing the indoor competitions last winter.
Steen won the world indoor bronze medal in Torun 2026 with 21.49m one year after claiming silver at the same championships in Nanjing in 2025. Steen improved his indoor PB to 22.07m at the Belgrade World Indoor Tour, just four cm shy of his outdoor PB of 22.11m set at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene.
Geist improved his indoor PB of 22.04m last February in Ostrava and won the world indoor silver medal with 21.64m in Torun.
Uziel Munoz from Mexico won the world silver medal improving his PB to 21.97m in Tokyo 2025.
Women’s discus throw:
Two-time Olympic gold medallist Valarie Sion (née Allman) will start her bid for a record-equalling sixth Damond League title in the women’s discus throw. Sion completed a perfect Diamond League campaign by winning every single competition in 2025 in Xiamen (68.95m), Keqiao (70.08m), Rome (69.21m), Paris (67.58m), Eugene (70.68m) and Zurich (69.18m). She claimed the Diamond Trophy five times in a row in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. With a sixth title Sion would draw level with discus thrower Sandra Elkasevic, Olympic and world shot put champion Valerie Adams and Colombia’s triple jump star Caterine Ibarguen, becoming he joint-most successful female athlete in Diamond League history. Sion opened her 2026 with 73.10 in Ramona. She won her first world title in Tokyo last year with 69.48m and two consecutive Olympic gold medals in Tokyo 2021 with 68.98m and Paris 2024 with 69.50m.
Sion will go head-to-head against Jorinde Van Klinken, who won the world silver medal in Tokyo 2025 with 67.50m. The Dutch thrower claimed two European silver medals in the shot put and discus throw in Rome 2024. She improved her national record tto 70.99m in Ramona last April. Van Klinken beat Sion at the Diamond League in Oslo in 2023.
The entire podium of the World Championships in Tokyo is completed by Silinda Morales, who won the bronze medal with 67.25m.
The other athletes to look out for are Laulaga Tausaga, who won the world title in Budapest 2023 ahead of Allman with 69.49m and set a PB of 70.72m in Ramona 2025, Feng Bin, world champion in Eugene 2022,Vanessa Kamgha from Sweden, fifth at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 and fourth at the World Championships in Tokyo 2025, US throwers Veronica Fraley, who won the NCAA title in 2024 and improved her PB to 68.72 in Ramona last year, Cierra Jackson (PB 67.25 in Ramona), Eika Beistle (PB 66.72m in Allendale), and Shanice Craft from Germany, eight in the World Championships in Tokyo 2025 and three-time European bronze medallist.
Men’s 400 metres:
Reigning world champion Busang Collen Kebinatshipi will go head to head against Olympic bronze medallist Muzala Samukonga and world bronze medallist Bayapo Ndori.
Kebinatshipi will run his first race since anchoring Botswana to a win in the 4x400 relay at the World Relays in Gaborone. The Botswanan athlete finished third in Xiamen in 44”53 last year. Last September he won two gold medals at the World Championships in Tokyo in 43.53 and in the 4x400 relay in 2:57.78. Last April Kebinatshipi won the Botswanan title in the 100 metres in 9.89 becoming the fourth sprinter in history to dip under 10 seconds in the 100 metres and under 44 seconds in the 400 metres after Wayde Van Niekerk, Michael Norman and Fred Kerley.
Christopher Morales Williams from Canada will run his second 400 metres race of the season season after winning in Gainesville in 44.30. Morales Williams claimed the world indoor gold medal in Torun in 44.78 last March.
Samukonga won the Olympic bronze medal in Paris 2024 in a national record of 43.74. This year he finished second in Nairobi in 44.55 and Tokyo in 44.83 and won the 300m in 31.38 in Pretoria.
Ndori won the bronze medal in the 400m in 44.20 and the gold medal in the 4x400 relay at the World Championships in Tokyo 2025, the Olympic silver medal in the 4x400 relay in 2:54.47 in Paris 2024.
Zakhiti Nene showed his impressive form in the early part of the season by winning two 400m races in Nairobi in 44.50 and Florence in 44.44. He also finished second with the 4x400 relay at the World Relays in a national record of 2:55.07.
US Vernon Norwood won two Olympic gold medals at Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024, as well as two World Championship gold medals with the 4x400m relay. Norwood set a personal best of 44.10 seconds at the 2024 London Diamond League meeting”.
Men’s 5000 metres:
Mohamed Abdilahi from Germany will be seeking a back-to-back Diamond League win in Xiamen one week after winning the 3000 metres in a world-leading time of 7:25.77 in one of the deepest races in history. Abdilahi broke the long-standing German record of 7:30.50 set by Dieter Baumann in 1998.
Abdilahi will go head to head against Andreas Almgren in a re-match of the 3000m race in Keqiao. Almgren set the European record of 12:44.27 in the 5000 metres at the Diamond League meeting in Stockolm in front of his home fans and won the world bronze medal in the 10000 metres in Tokyo 2025. This year the Swedish athlete set the national record of 7:26.48 in the 3000m in the Diamond League race in Keqiao.
Abdilahi and Almgren will be joined by Timothy Cheruiyot, world champion in the 1500 metres in Doha 2019 and fourth in the 3000 metres in Keqiao in a PB of 7:27.24, Biniam Mehary from Ethiopia, fifth at the World Championships in the 5000 metres in Tokyo 2025 and world indoor under 20 record holder in the 3000 metres with 7:29.99 in Liévin in 2025, Birhanu Balew, Asian record holder in the 3000m with 7:29.60 in Keqiao last week, Eduardo Herrera, Mexican record holder in the 3000m with 7:27.63, Santiago Catrofe from Uruguay, who improved the 3000 metres South American record with 7:29.72, Edwin Kurgat, who set PBs of 7:28.53 in the 3000m in London in 2024 and 26:46.35 in the 5000m in Eugene in 2025, and Kuma Girma from Ethiopia, third at the Diamond League meeting in Oslo in a PB of 12:46.41 in the 5000m.
Women’s 3000 metres steeplechase:
Peruth Chemutai from Uganda, Olympic champion in Tokyo 2021 will renew her rivalry against reigning world champion and two-time Diamond League champion Faith Cherotich and Olympic champion Winfred Yavi from Barhein.
Chemutai held off Cherotich by just one hundredth of a second in the first Diamond League race of the year in Keqiao setting the fastest time in the world this year with 8:51.47 in one of the fastest race in history with four women inside the 9 minutes barrier. Chemutai won the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo 2021 and the Olympic silver medal behind Yavi in a national record of 8:53.34. Chemutai broke her own Ugandan record by clocking 8:48.03 in Rome in 2024.
Cherotich set her seasonal best in Keqiao in 8:51.48. She won the world gold medal in Tokyo 2025 in a championship record of 8:51.59 beating Yavi. The Kenyan athlete claimed the Olympic bronze in Paris 2024 becoming the youngest athlete ever to reach the podium at the Olympic Games and claimed two back-to-back Diamond League titles in 2024 and 2025. She improved her PB to 8:48.71 at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene. She also won two world under 20 medals (bronze in Nairobi 2021 and gold in Cali 2022).
Yavi will make her seasonal debut in Xiamen. The athlete from Bahein won the Olympic gold medal in Paris 2024 with the Olympic record of 8:52.76 and the world title in Budapest 2023 in 8:54.29. She ran the second fastest time in history with 8:44.39 at the Diamond League meeting in Rome missing the world record by just seven hundredths of a second.
Marwa Bouzayani finished third in Keqiao breaking the nine minutes barrier for the first time in her career with 8:58.09. She finished fourth in the World Championships final in Tokyo 2025 in 9:01.46.
The line-up also features Alice Finot from France, European champion in Rome and fourth in the Olympic final in Paris 2024 in a national record of 8:58.67, and Kena Tufa from Ethiopia, who finished fourth in Keqiao in a PB of 8:59.56.
Women’s 1500 metres:
Birke Haylom from Ethiopia will be seeking a back-to-back win in the Diamond League this year after taking a victory in Keqiao in a world lead of 3:55.56. Haylom won the World Indoor Tour race in the 1500m in Madrid in 4:02.37. She claimed the world under 20 title in Cali 2022 and set the world under 20 record in the mile in Oslo with 4:17.13.
Jessica Hull will make her second appearance in the women’s 1500 metres in Xiamen one week after finishing sixth in Keqiao in 3:57.91. The Australian middle distance runner broke the world record in the women’s 2000 metres with 5:19.70 at the Diamond League in Monaco a few weeks before winning the Olympic silver medal in the 1500 metres in 3:52.56 in Paris 2024.
Hull finished in the top three in four of her Diamond League races during a successful 2025 season: third in the 1500m in Eugene in 3.52.67, third in the 1000m in Monaco in 2:30.96, second in the mile in London in 4:13.68 and second in the 1500m in Zurich in 3:57.02. Last September she won the world bronze medal in the 1500m at the World Championships in Tokyo in 3:55.16. During the 2026 indoor season Hull won the 2000 metres in Liévin in 5:26.68 and finished second at the Millrose Games in the mile in 4.20.11 and third in the 3000 metres in Boston in 8:36.03. At the World Indoor Championships in Torun she won bronze in the 3000m in 8:58.18 and silver in the 1500m in 3:59.45.
The line-up features four more Australian athletes who dipped under 4 minutes in Keqiao: Abbey Caldwell, the second fastest woman from her country in history with 3:56.12, Claudia Hollingsworth, who set the Australian record in the 800 metres with 1:57.67 in Chorzow and the third national fastest time in the 1500m with 3:58.09, Sarah Billings, eighth in Keqiao in 3:58.81, and Linden Hall, sixth in the 1500m at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021.
The other athlete to watch is Kenya’s Dorcus Ewoi, world silver medallist in Tokyo 2025 in a PB of 3:54.92.
Women’s high jump:
Four global medallists will go head-to-head in the women’s high jump. Eleanor Patterson from Australia, world champion in Eugene 2022 with a PB of 2.02m, will take on Maria Zodzik from Poland, world silver medallist in Tokyo 2025, Iryna Gerashchenko from Ukraine, Olympic bronze medallist in Paris 2024, and Yulia Levchenko, silver medallist at both the World Championships in London 2017 with 2.01m and at the World Indoor Championships in Torun 2026 with 1.99m.
Patterson shared the Olympic bronze medal with Gerashchenko at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 with 1.95m. The Australian jumper set a seasonal best of 1.97m in Trinec last February.
Zodzik won her first Diamond League in Lausanne in 2025 with 1.91m in rainy conditions beating Patterson and eventual Diamond League champion Nicola Olyslagers before improving her PB to 2.00m when she won the world silver medal in Tokyo last September.
The Chinese fans will cheer on Shao Yuqi, who claimed the silver medal at the Asian Championships in 2024.
Women’s javelin throw:
Elina Tzengko from Greece will bid for a second consecutive Diamond League title. The Greek thrower won four Diamond League competitions in 2025 in Xiamen (64.75m), Keqiao (64.90m), Rabat (64.60m) and Zurich (64.57m). She won the European gold medal in Munich 2022 and placed fifth at the World Championships in Tokyo.
Tzengko will renew her rivalry against Adriana Vilagos, who won two world under 20 gold medals in Nairobi 2021 and Cali 2022 and two consecutive European silver medals in Munich 2022 at the age of 18 and Rome 2024. The Serbian javelin thrower won her first Diamond League competition in Lausanne in 2025 and set a PB of 67.22m in 2025.
Haruka Kitaguchi won two global medals at the World Championships in Budapest 2023 with 66.73m and at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 with 65.80m and two Diamond League Trophies in Eugene 2023 with 63.78m and in Brussels 2024 with 66.12m.
Flor Denis Ruiz Hurtado won the world silver medal in Budapest 2023 with 65.47m and set a South American record with 66.70 in 2024.
The other top names are Maria Andrejczik from Poland, Olympic silver medallist in Tokyo 2021 and Polish record holder with 71.40m, Sigrid Borge from Norway, who set a PB of 66.50m, Dai Qianqian from China, winner at last year’s edition of the Diamond League in Xiamen with 61.25m, and world under 20 record holder Yan Ziyi.
