The 2016 edition, set for May 6, won\u2019t be an exception, with 38 champions and 80 medallists from past Olympic Games and world indoor and outdoor championships heading to the Qatari capital to open their Diamond League campaign.<\/p>\n
On the men\u2019s side of the programme, six athletes have won Olympic gold: LaShawn Merritt, Aries Merritt and Christian Taylor of the U.S. and Kenyans Asbel Kiprop, Ezekiel Kemboi and Brimin Kipruto. Fourteen have been crowned world champion outdoors \u2013nine last year in Beijing\u2014and nine earning a world indoor title. Additionally 21 have won an Olympic medal, 30 a World Championships medal and 19 a World Indoor Championships medal. In all, 20 men have bagged gold at a global competition and 43 left with medals.<\/p>\n
In the women\u2019s events Doha will welcome 18 global champions and 37 medallists. Of those, Olga Rypakova and Veronica Campbell-Brown have struck Olympic gold, 11 have claimed world titles outdoors –seven in Beijing– and seven indoors. Furthermore, six have finished among the top-three at Olympic Games, 21 at world championships outdoors and 22 indoors.<\/p>\n
This long list of champions includes seven athletes who have grabbed at least one medal at all three major global competitions: local hero Mutaz Barshim, LaShawn Merritt, Aries Merritt, David Oliver and Christian Taylor of the U.S., Kazakhstan\u2019s Olga Rypakova and Veronica Campbell-Brown from Jamaica.
Overall 206 athletes (125 men and 81 women) will compete at the 2016 Doha Diamond League representing 50 nations from five continents. Hosts Qatar will field 14 athletes, while Kenya\u2019s presence will be the largest with 29 \u2013composed of 20 men and nine women\u2014 with the U.S. bringing the largest women\u2019s contingent with 14.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough 2016 is an Olympic year and many medal contenders elected to delay their outdoor debut, I am sure that athletics fans will enjoy another fantastic night on Qatar Sports Club\u2019s track next Friday,\u201d said Qatar Athletics Federation President Dahlan Al Hamad. <\/p>\n
\u201cDoha Diamond League will be once more the ideal start to the outdoor season with so many great athletes competing and I am sure that many records will be broken.\u201d
Doha meeting records<\/p>\n
Most of Doha\u2019s meet records, a competition first held in 1997, were set after the Diamond League tag was added. Just four men\u2019s records were set before 2010, the oldest James Beckford\u2019s long jump mark of 8.41m set in 1999. Three fell in 2015, at what was widely regarded as the best Doha Diamond League competition. One of those, Pablo Pichardo\u2019s 18.06m leap in the triple jump, is also a Diamond League series record. Another is Yenew Alamirew\u2019s 7:27.26 in the 3000m set in 2011.<\/p>\n
All but three of the current women\u2019s meeting records were set during the Diamond League era. The oldest, Romanian Ionela T\u00e2rlea-Manolache 54.27 in the 400m hurdles, dates back to 1999. Two fell in 2015: Allyson Felix clocked 21.98 to break the 200m mark and Jasmin Stowers ran 12.35 in the 100m hurdles. Both are also Diamond League series records, joining Hellen Obiri\u2019s 8:20.68 in the 3000m from 2014 and Brittney Reese\u2019s 7.25m in the long jump set in 2013. <\/p>\n
With six in all, Doha is currently tied with Brussels and Monaco as the meeting with the most Diamond League series records.<\/p>\n
Individual bests<\/p>\n
An ankle injury will force Allyson Felix to miss this year\u2019s competition but her stellar record will remain safe. The American has amassed 11 victories in Doha, five successive at 400m (another individual record) and three apiece at 200m and 100m. <\/p>\n
Like Felix, T\u00e2rlea-Manolache has won in three different events in Doha (200m, 400m and 400m hurdles) while Shelly-Ann Fraser, Kerron Stewart and Meseret Defar have emerged victorious in two: the Jamaicans in the 100m and the 200m and the Ethiopian in the 1500m and the 3000m. <\/p>\n
Eliud Kipchoge, who recently ran the second fastest marathon of all time, has collected four 3000m victories in Doha and one in the 5000m for a total of five wins, the most on the men\u2019s side. The men\u2019s record for the most successive wins belongs jointly to shot putter Reese Hoffa of the U.S. and Norway\u2019s javelin thrower Andreas Thorkildsen with four. David Oliver will be looking to equal that record when lining up for this year\u2019s 110m hurdles race. Hoffa\u2019s wins span from 2005 to 2009, Thorkildsen\u2019s from 2006 to 2009, while Oliver\u2019s first victory came in 2008 and his last in 2014!<\/p>\n
Besides Kipchoge, other men with wins in different events include Jaysuma Saidy Ndure, who won the 200m in 2006 representing Gambia and the 100m in 2008 as a Norwegian; LaShawn Merritt, who can boast two 400m wins and one in the 200m; Asbel Kiprop, with two 1500m wins and one in the 800m; and his compatriot Augustine Choge, who twice won both the 1500m and 3000m. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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