The Diamond trophy in Rome (© WDL)
With the two Wanda Diamond League meetings to be held in China unable to go ahead as planned in August, athletes in some disciplines scheduled for those meetings have been left with too few opportunities to qualify for the Wanda Diamond Final in Zurich on 8 September 2021.
To qualify for the Diamond League final, each athlete needs to compete at least four times during the series in their chosen discipline.
To give all athletes that opportunity, the Diamond League AG Board has been in discussion with Diamond League and Continental Tour one-day meetings to see if their programmes can accommodate one of the displaced disciplines.
Four meetings have come forward offering to add disciplines to their one-day programme. The four disciplines include the women's shot put, men's long jump, women's javelin and men's discus and these disciplines have now been reallocated to other Wanda Diamond League and World Athletics Continental Tour meetings (see below).
Other disciplines scheduled to take place in China, such as the men's and women's 100m, will not be reallocated as athletes already have more than four opportunities to compete in these disciplines elsewhere during the season.
The men's long jump was reallocated to the BAUHAUS-Galan Wanda Diamond League meeting in Stockholm, which took place on 4 July.
The other three disciplines have been reallocated to World Athletics Continental Tour meetings scheduled to take place in mid-August, the same period during which the two Chinese events would have been held. (see below).
Athletes taking part in these reallocated competitions will earn Wanda Diamond League qualification points (8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1) and World Ranking points (GW points) as awarded in the Wanda Diamond League. They will however receive the prize money awarded by the host meeting.
The Diamond League final offers $US60,000 in prize money for the top eight finishers per event, with $US30,000 for each winner.
“We would like to thank all the meetings that have helped us provide the additional opportunities required for the athletes to compete for the coveted Diamond League trophy in their discipline, the recognition that goes with that and the prize money on offer,” said Petr Stastny, CEO of Diamond League AG. "In this difficult year our focus has been, and continues to be, on providing athletes with top quality competition and we have been able to do this thanks to the four meetings that have stepped up. We know the athletes will be disappointed with not receiving WDL prize money in these qualifying events but hope they understand the unprecedented circumstances we have faced this year and will look forward to qualifying for the final in September. Like most of us, we are looking forward to a time when the world gets back to normal and a normal meeting schedule resumes."
The CITIUS meeting in Bern (Continental Tour Bronze) will stage Wanda Diamond League competitions in the women's javelin and women's shot put, while the Palio Città della Quercia meeting in Rovereto (Continental Tour Silver) will stage the women's javelin.
The Hungarian GP Series Budapest (Continental Tour Bronze) will stage Wanda Diamond League events in the women's shot put and men's discus.
Reallocated disciplines:
Women's shot put
21.08.2021: CITIUS Bern (CT Bronze)
24.08.2021: Hungarian GP Series Budapest (CT Bronze)
Women's javelin
21.08.2021: CITIUS Bern (CT Bronze)
31.08.2021: Palio Città della Quercia Rovereto (CT Silver)
Men's discus
24.08.2021: Hungarian GP Series Budapest (CT Bronze)
Men's long jump
Staged on 04.07.2021 WDL in Stockholm.
