The Diamond League starts with the great stars of world athletics: who are the must -see

The most important athletics event in 2022 is the Eugene World Championship, United States, which will take place from July 15 to 24. But this is not the only opportunity to enjoy the talented talents of this sport in action. Because throughout the season, the traditional diamond leaguea kind of rock stars tourwhere the protagonists will be the best athletes on the planetincluding Olympic and world champions. There will be 12 dates that will put millions of dollars at stake in prizes and where athletes will add points to try to qualify for the grand final in Zurich, scheduled for early September. And the first “stop” of that tour is today, Friday, at Khalifa International Stadium of Doha.

The event in Qatar’s capital will raise the curtain on competition in an extremely attractive program, which includes seven gold medals from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, including the Swede. Armand Duplantisthe pole vault phenomenon, and the Canadian André DeGrassewho won Japan in the 200 meters at his personal best and his country’s record.

Duplantis was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the Doha meeting. The 22-year-old Swede, the owner of the best outdoor jump of all time (6.15 meters in Rome in September 2020), has already made history by 2022. On March 7, in Belgrade, he broke the internal world record of 6.19 meters, only to improve that mark two weeks later, at the same stage, during Indoor World Championship. There, he jumped 6.20 and climbed to the top of the podium.

But world want more. And in the land of Qatar he will try to start on the right foot the defense of the “diamond” title, which he won in 2021, and start the heat for the ecumenical meeting in Eugene, where he will go for the only important crown that he is not yet in their showcases.

De Grasse will be the favorite in a very difficult 200 -meter test. The Canadian, who in Tokyo was gold in that distance with 19.62 seconds, bronze in the 100 meters and silver in the 4×100 relay, will face the Americans. Noah Lylescurrent world champion and bronze in the Japanese Games, and fred kerleywhich is second on the hectometer in the Olympic event and owns the second best time of the year at 200 (19:80 on April 16).

The high jump test will be very special, bringing together the Italians for the first time since Tokyo Gianmarco Tamberi and in Qatari Mutaz Barshim, heroes of one of the most emotional moments of the Games. Both jumped 2.37 meters at the end of the test and decided not to go to the jump-off, climbed together to the top of the podium and share the gold. Friends for a long time, in the preview of Doha, they warned between laughs: “It will never happen again”.

Barshim, current two-time world champion (he won in London 2017 and became the first person to retain the title in his discipline in Doha 2019), is the Qatari national record holder with a mark of 2.43 meters, the second highest of all time . . Tamberi, a former gold medalist on the indoor track and at the European Championships, is the owner of the Italian record with 2.39 meters, current League champion and just won bronze at the Indoor World Cup in March.

The other golden athletes from Tokyo who will claim to be in Doha Shaunae Miller-Uibo, from the Bahamas, champion in the 400 meters; the Kenyan Faith Kipyegon, won the 1,500 meters in the Japanese capital and the 2021 Diamond League at that distance, but who will compete this Friday in the 3,000; and the American Rai Benjamin |Olympic champion with a 4×400 relay in his country and silver in the 400 with obstacles, a test in which he will compete in Qatar.

The Diamond League, which held its first edition in 2010, will consist of twelve qualifying events, where track and field events will take place on the same day.

After Doha, the “tour” will take place. birminghamEngland (May 21); Eugeneone of the most awaited dates of the year because it usually brings the elite together Hayward Field from that city in Oregon (May 28); RabatMorocco (June 5); RomeItaly (June 9); OsloNorway (June 16); Paris, France (June 18); Y StockholmSweden (June 30).

After that stop, the series will take a break to give the World Cup a leading role, which will be the great attraction of the month of July.

League action will resume Aug. 6 at Chorzow, Poland, which entered after the cancellation of two appointments scheduled in China due to the new coronavirus outbreak in that country and will host the ninth meeting. then go to FontvieilleMonaco (August 10); LausanneSwitzerland (August 26) and BrusselsBelgium (September 2).

Each of these dates will distribute scores to the best eight of each test (8 in the first, 7 in the second, 6 in the third and so on respectively). But it also gives athletes prize money. The winners will take home 10 thousand dollars; the second, 6 thousand and third, 3,500, for example.

At the end of the twelve qualifying events, those who have accumulated the most points will advance to the final. In the field test the first six will qualify; at speeds (from 100 to 800 meters), the best eight; and over long distances (from 1,500 upwards), the ten best spots.

In the quote of Zurich the champions of the season will be crowned, which will take home a prize of 30 thousand dollars. Silver medalists will receive 12,000, bronze medalists will be 7,000 and there will also be rewards for those who place up to eighth place, as in previous meetings. And diamond trophies will also be given away.

Because 32 trials will be played on each date -16 of each gender-, at the end of the qualifying stage, the League will distribute about 10 million dollars in prizes. And at the last appointment about two million more will be delivered.

The best field and track scenery on the planet. A large bag of dollars is at stake. And the world’s top athletes compete head-to-head throughout the season. That’s the Diamond League, the tour of athletics rock stars, which will open its 13th edition in Doha this Friday. Safety pin.