At the European Indoor Championships in March, Armand Duplantis set the first big exclamation point of this athletics year. The 22-year-old Swede improved the world record he had just set by one centimeter and increased it to 6.20 metres.
It was the temporary highlight of this young exceptional talent, who had already won silver at the World Championships at the age of 18 and two years ago snatched the world record from Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie (6.17 meters). In the summer, Armand Duplantis was crowned Olympic champion in Tokyo.
New edition of the Olympic competition
Now, at the first meeting of the Diamond League in Doha, there will be a reunion with the competitors at the Olympic Games. Duplantis meets Chris Nilsen of the USA, who won the silver medal, and Piotr Lisek of Poland, who took bronze at the Olympics last summer. It will be interesting to see whether Duplantis will be able to continue his flying skills at the first big open-air meeting.
Tamberi and Barshim duel again
Also at the start in Doha are the joint high jump Olympic champions Gianmarco Tamberi (Italy) and local hero Mutaz Barshim (Qatar).
Olympic 200m champion Andre De Grasse (Canada) competes against Olympic bronze medalist and world champion Noah Lyles (USA). In the women’s race, world champion Dina Asher-Smith (Great Britain) will have to deal with Olympic bronze medalist over 100 meters Shericka Jackson (Jamaica) over this distance.
Olympic bronze medalist Rai Benjamin (USA) and Olympic bronze medalist Alison dos Santos (Brazil) have announced they will be in the 400-meter hurdles, and women’s world record holder Kendra Harrison (USA) in the 100-meter hurdles.
Röhler happy about the invitation
Thomas Röhler sees it as a win to even have received an invitation to the start in Doha. “You have to be thankful that a meeting like this says: We’d like to have Mr. Röhler back at the start.”said the 30-year-old Olympic javelin champion from 2016 before the first competition after a long break in competition on Friday in the desert state of Qatar. “It’s a start and an important stage on the way to a comeback.”
Access to the premium series of world athletics has become more difficult anyway – especially for athletes from Germany, who only won three medals at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Apart from long jump Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo and javelin world champion Johannes Vetter, there are hardly any others who are allowed to choose the Diamond League appearances. In addition to Röhler from Germany, only his discipline colleague Julian Weber and shot putter Sara Gambetta will be there in Doha.
Doha is followed by Birmingham and Eugene
The Diamond League has canceled the Shanghai (July 30) and Shenzhen (August 6) events in China. A competition will be held in Chorzow, Poland (August 6th). Doha will be followed by the Diamond League events in Birmingham on May 21st and Eugene on May 28th.
Source: mike