Faith Kipyegon wins the 1500m in Paris (© Christel Saneh)
The 2025 Wanda Diamond League delivered a magnificent 15 meetings in 13 nations, garnering seven world records and infinite thrills in a memorable year for the sport.
On his debut in China, Mondo Duplantis exceeded all expectations and another world record in the men’s pole vault, clearing 6.24m first time at the season opener in Xiamen on 20 April.
The series landed in Suzhou a week later and New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr had a confidence boosting win in the men’s high jump over Olympic gold medallist Mutaz Barshim with a 2.31m clearance.
The Diamond League moved on to Doha on 10 May. Brazil’s Alison dos Santos and USA’s Kenny Bednarek annexed new meeting records in the men’s 400m hurdles and men’s 200m with searing times of 46.86 and 19.67 (1.7m/s) respectively.
Nine days later, the series moved on to Marrakech. Moroccan home hero Soufiane El Bakkali kept the crowd happy, winning the 3000m steeplechase in 8:09.40.
Next up, the Diamond League arrived in Eugene and Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet of Kenya became the first woman to run under 29 minutes for 10,000m as she set a world record 28:54.14.
Beatrice Chebet sets a world 10,000m record in Eugene (© Getty Images)
Fighting for headline status was the eagerly anticipated clash between Josh Kerr and Jakob Ingebrigtsen in the Bowerman Mile. Kerr got the better of his Norwegian rival, making a long run for home with 600m left to win in 3:45.34. In the field, Joe Kovacs launched a monster 23.13m to win the men’s shot put.
The Diamond League arrived in Europe on 30 May with Oslo’s Bislett Games, a meeting with a rich heritage of distance running. And the men’s 5000m added another historic chapter with Hagos Gebrhiwet running the second fastest time in history with 12:36.73.
Three days later and Stockholm saw Lamecha Girma run the fastest men’s 3000m steeplechase of the year, clocking 8:01.63.
The record books were rewritten by Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Faith Kipyegon at the Paris Diamond League on 7 July, whetting the appetite for the forthcoming Olympics at the same Stade de France venue.
Ukraine’s Mahuchikh cleared 2.10m at the first attempt, finally ending Stefka Kostadinova’s near 37-year grip on the women’s high jump world record. Then Kipyegon clipped 0.07 off the women’s 1500m world record she set the previous year in Florence, stopping the clock at 3:49:04.
Five days later in Monaco it was Jessica Hull’s turn to set a distance world record, the Australian executing a perfect race to run away from the field to win the women’s 2000m in 5:19.70. The men’s 800m was won by Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati in 1:41.46. In a race for the ages, the top five all went under 1:43:00 and all 10 runners went under 1:44:00.
At the final pre-Olympic meeting in London on 20 July, there were some sensational times over one lap. In the 400m, Nickisha Pryce won the women’s event in 48.57, a Diamond League record, and in the men’s event, Matthew Hudson-Smith won in a European record of 43.74. Over the 400m hurdles, world champion Femke Bol ran a Diamond League record of 51.30.
The series returned in Lausanne after Paris 2024 with 10 newly crowned Olympic champions in a glittering field on 22 August. Among those shining brightest was 800m gold medallist Emmanuel Wanyonyi, who scorched to a two-lap time of 1:41.11, to go joint second on the all-time list with Denmark’s Wilson Kipketer.
Three days later in Silesia and generational talents Duplantis and Ingebrigtsen both set world records. Duplantis cleared 6.26m at the second attempt, adding another 1cm to the pole vault record he’d set barely 20 days earlier for gold in Paris.
Olympic 5000m champion Ingebrigtsen clocked a glorious 7:17.55 for the 3000m, slicing more than three seconds off the mark set by Kenya’s Daniel Komen in 1996.
In Rome on 30 August, Olympic and world champion Winfred Yavi ran a superb 9:44.39 to win the women’s 3000m steeplechase, just 0.07 shy of the world record.
Then in Zurich on 5 September, world and Olympic champion Grant Holloway won the men’s 110m hurdles in 12.99 (-0.3m/s), setting a record for sub-13.00 times. Meanwhile, Olympic 5000m and 10,000m champion Chebet continued an astonishing season, winning the 5000m in a world-leading 14:09.52.
At the Brussels final on 13-14 September, Kipyegon clinched her fifth Diamond trophy, breaking a 21-year-old meeting record with 3:54.75 in the women’s 1500m, capping another superb season for the three-time Olympic champion.
Italy’s Leonardo Fabbri got the better of Olympic champion Ryan Crouser in the men’s shot put with a meeting record of 22.98m. Inevitably, Duplantis cleared a meeting record of 6.11m in the pole vault.
Expect him and the rest of the world’s great athletes to continue to raise the bar in the 2025 Diamond League season.
Chris Broadbent for World Athletics
