Brittney Reese sails out to 7.25m in the Long Jump at the 2013 Doha Diamond League (© Errol Anderson)
Now entering its fifth year, the IAAF Diamond League continues to showcase the best athletes in the world, and as such, the IAAF Diamond League records improve with each season.
The list of records includes some of the great performances in history, with marks such as Aries Merritt’s world 110m hurdles record of 12.80, set in Brussels in 2012, and David Rudisha’s 1:41.54 800m clocking from Paris two years ago.
Last year alone, IAAF Diamond League records were set in eight of the standard individual events, the first of which was set in Doha, the opening fixture of the 14-meeting series.
On that occasion, world and Olympic champion Brittney Reese flew out to 7.25m to win the long jump with the best mark in her discipline ever witnessed at an IAAF Diamond League meeting.
More Diamond League records came in Lausanne with Sandra Perkovic launching her discus out to 68.96m and Bohdan Bondarenko clearing 2.41m in the high jump. Just two days later in Paris, Kirani James clocked the fastest ever 400m at a Diamond League meeting, winning in 43.96.
Later that month, London and Monaco both played host to two IAAF Diamond League records apiece. In Monaco, Asbel Kiprop won a memorable 1500m in 3:27.72 while Amantle Montsho clocked a record-breaking 49.33 to win the 400m.
The following weekend in the British capital, both IAAF Diamond League records were broken in the pole vault contests as Yarisley Silva triumphed with 4.83m and Renaud Lavillenie sailed over 6.02m.
With just one week to go until Doha hosts the first meeting in the 2014 series of the IAAF Diamond League, thoughts turn to this season and which events may have IAAF Diamond League records established during the course of the year.
In the Qatari capital on May 9, Diamond League record-holders David Rudisha, Asbel Kiprop, Brimin Kipruto, Piotr Malachowski, Kaliese Spencer, Yarisley Silva and Valerie Adams will all be in action. And with no global senior outdoor championships this summer, the focus of the world’s best athletes will simply be on producing their best form on the IAAF Diamond League circuit, increasing the likelihood of more records in 2014.
IAAF Fantasy Athletics now open
The 2014 edition of Fantasy Diamond Race provides players with the chance to compare their prediction power against fellow track and field fans from around the world.
For each IAAF Diamond League meeting, players have to identify nine athletes who they think will place highest in their events and, just as with the real Diamond Race itself, points are then awarded to those finishing in the podium positions.
There are prizes on offer for those players whose teams have the highest scores at each of the 14 meetings, and for the season winner who accumulates the best overall points score across all meetings
The start lists for the opening meeting in Doha will not be known until the week of the competition, but it is already possible to select provisional teams based upon the list of athletes who competed last year in the IAAF Diamond League.
IAAF
