(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
Doha: Doha will kick off the 2023 Diamond League season when the Qatar capital hosts the opening round of the blockbuster track and field series for the 12th time since 2010, on May 5 next year.
World Athletics and Diamond League yesterday announced the 15-leg calendar of the popular series which includes host cities across 12 countries and four continents.
The 14th edition of track and field's premier one-day meeting series will be the biggest yet, and the first in which the final will be held in the USA.
Athletes will compete at 14 series meetings from May to September, with the most successful qualifying for the two-day Wanda Diamond League Final at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon on September 16 and 17.
This year's Road to the Final will once again feature Silesia's Kamila Skolimowska Memorial meeting, which has now joined the series for the next five years after featuring on a provisional basis in 2022 to compensate for the cancellation of both Chinese legs due to the pandemic.
After touching down on African soil at the Meeting International Mohammed VI in Rabat on May 28, the series will then head to Europe in June and July. The world's best athletes will head to Rome on June 2, Paris on June 9, Oslo on June 15, Lausanne on June 30 and Stockholm on July 2.
Silesia, which will be a full member meeting from 2023 until 2027, will host a Wanda Diamond League meeting for the second time in its history on July 16.
Following Herculis EBS Monaco on July 21, the series will return to London after a three-year hiatus, with the London Diamond League to be held at the London Stadium for the first time since 2019.
Two Chinese meetings in Shanghai and Shenzhen will follow on July 29 and August 3 before the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. The season will resume with Weltklasse Zurich on August 31 and the Allianz Memorial Van Damme meeting in Brussels on September 8.
For the first time ever, the Wanda Diamond League Final will take place not in Zurich or Brussels, but on US soil at the Prefontaine Classic. Eugene will host the 2023 season finale, with all 32 Diamond League champions to be crowned across two days of elite athletics action on September 16 and 17.
Diamond League 2023 programme:
May 5 - Doha (Qatar)
May 28 - Rabat (Morocco)
June 2 - Rome (Italy)
June 9 - Paris (France)
June 15 - Oslo (Norway)
June 30 - Lausanne (Switzerland)
July 2 - Stockholm (Sweden)
July 16 - Silesia (Poland)
July 21 - Monaco
July 23 - London (United Kingdom)
July 29 - Shanghai (China)
August 3 - Shenzhen (China)
August 31 - Zurich (Switzerland)
September 8 - Brussels (Belgium)
September 16/17- Eugene (USA)