Doha: Reigning Olympic champions Christian Taylor, Aries Merritt and Ezekiel Kemboi will be among the stars who will kick off their 2016 Diamond League campaigns when the international track and field series commences in Doha this Friday.
For the seventh straight year, Doha’s Qatar Sports Club Stadium will host the opening competition of the IAAF Diamond League, the 14-meeting series that this year takes on added significance as athletes prepare for August’s Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Taylor, a four-time winner of the series’ Diamond Race Trophy in the triple jump, notched his second world title last year with an 18.21m leap that elevated him to the No.2 position all-time.
His stand-out campaign, which saw him short-listed for world athlete of the year honours, began in Doha where he jump beyond 18 metres only to finish second, two centimetres behind Cuba’s Pedro Pablo Pichardo in what was the finest triple jump competitions in history.
This year Taylor will take on Teddy Tamgho of France, another member of the event’s exclusive 18-metre club.
Merritt, the world record holder in the 110m hurdles, continues his comeback after undergoing a kidney transplant surgery last year just four days after taking bronze at the world championships.
He’ll face Jamaican Omar McLeod (12.97 PB), the hottest hurdler in the world at the moment, who won the world indoor title in March and is the year’s fastest at 13.08.
After clocking 9.99 in the 100m last month, the 22-year-old earned the distinction of being the only man to run under 10 seconds in the 100m and under 13 in the 110m hurdles.
The field also includes David Oliver of the US, a former world champion and meeting record holder (12.95) who’ll be chasing a fourth Doha victory.
Meanwhile, Kemboi, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and four-time world champion in the 3,000m steeplechase, leads a traditionally strong field which includes his Kenyan compatriot Jairus Birech, the series winner the past two seasons.
The men’s programme also includes five 2015 world championships, 1,500m ace and Doha fan favourite Asbel Kiprop from Kenya among them.
The 2008 Olympic champion, who notched his third world title last year, is the fastest in the field at 3:26.69, the third best performance of all-time.
A two-time winner here, Kiprop is the meeting record holder at 3:29.18, the fastest ever performance in the month of May.
The strong field includes Elijah Motonei Manangoi, the 2015 World Championships runner-up, and perennial speedster Silas Kiplagat who is history’s fifth fastest at 3:27.64. Qatari hopes are high in several events.
After equaling his own 9.91 Asian record in the 100m last month, Femi Ogunode will be among the favourites in the men’s 200m. He is also the Asian record holder in the 200 at 19.97.
He’ll face Panama’s Alonso Edward, the Diamond Race winner in the event in 2014 and 2015, Walter Dix of the US the meeting record holder, and rising US star Ameer Webb who clocked 19.91 last month.
In the 400m, local eyes will fall on Qatar’s latest hot prospect, 19-year-old Abdalelah Haroun who took silver at the World Indoor Championships in March and a gold medal at the Asian Indoor Championships, held in Doha last February.
A prodigious talent, Haroun set an Asian U20 record last year clocking 44.29, the eight fastest performance of the year.
He’ll face a daunting line-up in his first Doha main stage debut lead by LaShawn Merritt, a former Olympic and two-time world champion.
Merritt, last year’s World Championships silver medallist and the meeting record holder at 44.19 (2014), illustrated impressive early season form with a 19.78 career best and world lead in the 200m in Nassau on April 16.
The field also includes London Olympic silver medallist Luguelín Santos of the Dominican Republic and Machel Cedenio (44.36 PB) from Trinidad & Tobago.
In the high jump, local hero Mutaz Barshim, the 2014 world indoor champion, will command the spotlight, in a field that includes world champion Derek Drouin of Canada, China’s world silver medallist Zhang Guowei and Erik Kynard of the US, the Olympic silver medallist.
In a non-scoring 800m race, two-time Asian champion Musaeb Abdulrahman Balla is looking to kick off his outdoor campaign with a fast time to make amends for his unfortunate race at the World Indoor Championships final. He’ll face former world indoor champion Abubaker Kaki of Sudan.
And in the discus throw, world champion Piotr Malachowski of Poland leads a reunion of the top three finishers from last year’s world championships.
The Peninsula
