DOHA: 15 reigning individual Olympic and world champions including Qatar’s Olympic and world high jump champion Mutaz Barshim and India’s Olympic javelin champion Neeraj Chopra besides a host of major championship medallists will be seen in action at the 2023 Wanda Diamond League here on Friday.
The competition will be held at the Qatar Sports Club where five world leading performances, two meeting records, and three area and national records were set 12 months ago.
Across a high quality programme, event highlights are expected to include the women’s 100m, 1500m and pole vault, and the men’s 200m, 3000m and javelin.
Chopra, who holds the Indian national record hold of 89.94m, will join world champion Anderson Peters (GRN) and Olympic silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch (CZE) in a much-anticipated javelin competition.
There will several others performers that include reigning world 200m women’s champion Shericka Jackson (JAM) will open her Diamond League campaign in an exciting line-up that also features former world 200m champion Dina Asher-Smith (GBR).
Asher-Smith, who won world bronze over 200m in Eugene 2022, is the British 100m record holder with a best of 10.83 set at the World Athletics Championships in Doha 2019, where she finished second.
She also holds the British 200m record (21.88). Twice an Olympic 4 x 100m relay bronze medallist, she won the Wanda Diamond League 100m crown in 2019.
Jackson has won four of the five previous meetings between the two over 100m.
The quality of the field extends beyond the highly decorated duo and also includes three of the USA’s World Championships winning 4 x 100m relay team, Melissa Jefferson (10.82 PB), Abby Steiner (10.90 PB) and Twanisha Terry (10.82 PB), plus former NCAA champion Sha’Carri Richardson (USA) who ran a wind-assisted 10.57 in Florida in early April (her legal best is 10.72). (doha.diamondleague.com)
