Faith Kipyegon celebrates her world 1500m record in Florence (© Christel Saneh / Diamond League AG)
World record-holders Faith Kipyegon and Mondo Duplantis will launch their Wanda Diamond League seasons in Xiamen on 20 April.
The world athletes of the year are among 12 Olympic gold medallists and 27 world champions who will light up the spectacular Egret Stadium, which hosted the inaugural Wanda Diamond League meeting in Xiamen last September.
Kipyegon, a two-time Olympic champion and four-time world champion, has not been beaten in a 1500m race since 2021, but the Kenyan faces a stern test over her specialist distance in Xiamen. She will take on 10 women who have run below four minutes, including Ethiopia’s world 10,000m champion Gudaf Tsegay, who broke Kipyegon’s world 5000m record last year.
Diribe Welteji, who beat Kipyegon to the world road mile title in Riga last year, is also in the line-up, as is world indoor 1500m champion Freweyni Hailu.
In the men’s pole vault, Duplantis is one of four six-metre vaulters in the field. The Swede – who recently won his second world indoor title – will have to be near his best in Xiamen to beat US trio Christopher Nilsen, Sam Kendricks and KC Lightfoot.
Among the other reigning Olympic champions set to feature are Qatari high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim, US discus thrower Valarie Allman, Portuguese triple jumper Pedro Pichardo, Jamaican sprint hurdler Hansle Parchment, and Chinese throwers Gong Lijiao and Liu Shiying.
The meeting also features a slew of world champions including US sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, discus thrower Laulauga Tausaga, shot putter Chase Jackson, along with Dominican Republic’s 400m specialist Marileidy Paulino, Canadian 800m runner Marco Arop, triple jumper Hugues Fabrice Zango of Burkina Faso, and Bahraini steeplechaser Winfred Mutile Yavi.
Clash of global champions in both track and field
The women’s 100m hurdles will feature a riveting showdown between Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico and the two most recent world champions: Tobi Amusan of Nigeria and Danielle Williams of Jamaica. However, Devynne Charlton will be a huge threat, the Bahamian keen to convert her scintillating indoor form to the 100m hurdles, having set a world indoor record of 7.65 to win in Glasgow.
The men’s 100m will feature a clash between sprint superpowers USA and Jamaica, with the US charge led by past world 100m champions Fred Kerley and Christian Coleman. They’ll be keen to get one over on Jamaican rivals such as 2011 world champion Yohan Blake, world indoor bronze medallist Ackeem Blake, and 2023 Jamaican champion Rohan Watson.
The men’s high jump will see three-time world champion Barshim take on world indoor champion Hamish Kerr of New Zealand. The men’s triple jump, meanwhile, pits world champion Zango against Olympic champion Pichardo.
Richardson may be better known as a 100m sprinter, but the US star proved in Budapest last year she can also contend over 200m, earning bronze there in 21.92. In Xiamen, she will race the longer sprint where the chief threat might come from fellow sub-22-second athletes Tamara Clark and Anavia Battle of USA.
The women’s 400m serves up a rematch between the three medallists from last year’s world final, with Paulino facing Natalia Kaczmarek of Poland and Sada Williams of Barbados. The field includes four other sub-50-second athletes, including USA’s Britton Wilson and Talitha Diggs.
The women’s steeplechase also features the full medal rostrum from last year’s world final as Yavi looks to continue her winning ways against Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech and Faith Cherotich.
Arop is the star name in the men’s 800m, where the world champion will go up against Kenya’s Wycliffe Kinyamal and USA’s Clayton Murphy, the 2016 Olympic bronze medallist.
The men’s 110m hurdles will see Olympic champion Parchment take on world bronze medallist Daniel Roberts of USA, while the men’s 5000m sees Kenya’s Nicholas Kipkorir, the 2022 Wanda Diamond League champion, take on Ethiopia’s Telahun Haile Bekele, a 12:42.70 performer.
Chinese stars set to thrill home crowd
Last year’s meeting in Xiamen proved a huge hit with the locals, with close to 30,000 in attendance, and an even bigger crowd is expected this year with many of the country’s A-list athletes competing.
Feng Bin, the 2022 world discus champion, will be keen to put down an early-season marker as she takes on a formidable US duo: Olympic champion Allman and world champion Tausaga.
In the women’s shot put, Gong will be keen to defeat some of the women who stand between her and a second straight Olympic title in Paris, taking on world champion Jackson and world indoor champion Sarah Mitton of Canada.
The women’s javelin will feature Olympic champion Liu taking on three-time world medallist Lyu Huihui, world silver medallist Flor Denis Ruiz Hurtado and Australia’s three-time Olympic finalist Kathryn Mitchell.
