(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
Doha, Qatar: The Doha Diamond League, which will take place on Friday, has once again attracted an array of track and field stars who will vie for top honours at the Qatar Sports Club.
In a packed programme, event highlights are expected to include the men's javelin, men's long jump, women's 800m, men's 400m, men's 1500m and women's pole vault.
Among them, the reigning Olympic, world and Asian Games javelin champion Neeraj Chopra - India's record holder with a best of 89.94m - will make a welcome return to action alongside former world champion Anderson Peters (GRN) and Olympic and world medallist Jakub Vadlejch (CZE).
Inspirational Chopra set the tone for his gold medal-winning summer with victory in the opening meeting of the 2023 Doha Meeting ahead of Vadlejch and Peters. Peters, who finished third 12 months ago with 85.88m, had delivered a national record and the fifth-longest throw in history in 2022 (93.07m), while 2023 Wanda Diamond League champion Vadlejch, who was runner-up to Chopra in 2023 with 88.63m, recorded a personal best in the memorable 2022 meeting with his first ever throw over 90m (90.88m).
Chopra's goal for the summer is to defend his Olympic title, but to break the elusive 90m barrier would also mean a lot. European champion Julian Weber (GER), fourth in the Olympic Games and World Championships, will also compete.
In the men's 400m, Olympic 400m champion and former world champion Steven Gardiner (BAH) will return to Qatar.
Gardiner clocked a national record of 43.48 with victory at the World Athletics Championships in Doha 2019. He returned to competitive action with a 31.99 300m in Florida in March 2024 ahead of the World Athletics Relays in the Bahamas on May 4-5.
Vernon Norwood and Quincy Hall – members of the USA's gold medal winning 4 x 400m relay quartet at the 2023 World Athletics Championships – will also compete.
In the men's long jump, Olympic, world and European long jump champion Miltiádis Tentóglou (GRE) will lead a star cast which includes Jamaica's national record holder Tajay Gayle (8.69m) – world champion in Doha 2019 and bronze medallist in Budapest 2023, as well as Switzerland's Simon Ehammer, 2023 Diamond League champion and heptathlon gold medallist at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow in March.
World champion Mary Moraa (KEN) and World Indoor Championships silver medallist Jemma Reekie (GBR) are the standout names in the women's 800m.
Meanwhile, the men's 1500m will see a strong field bursting with youth and experience.
Olympic silver medallist Timothy Cheruiyot (KEN) – the world champion in Doha 2019 – will line up against world bronze medallist Narve Gilje Nordås (NOR) and teenage record-breaker Reynold Cheruiyot (KEN).
In the women's pole vault, world and Commonwealth champion Nina Kennedy (AUS) and newly-crowned world indoor champion Molly Caudery (GBR) will go head to head at Qatar SC.
Elsewhere in the programme, stars include 3000m steeplechase world record holder Lamecha Girma (ETH), the Olympic and world silver medallist (3000m SC); Kenya's cross country and road running world champion and World Championships 5000m medallist Beatrice Chebet (5000m); world indoor champion Freweyni Hailu (ETH), fourth-place finisher at the Olympic Games and World Championships (1500m); USA's Olympic silver medallist Kenneth Bednarek (200m); and 2022 world high jump champion Eleanor Patterson (AUS), runner-up in Budapest 2023 (high jump).
Of those previously announced, Qatar's 400m hurdles record holder Abderrahman Samba has withdrawn due to injury, in addition to world U20 1500m indoor record-holder Biniam Mehary (ETH) and Olympic and world 3000m steeplechase champion Soufiane El Bakkali (MAR).
The Seashore Group Doha Meeting is the third meeting of the 2024 Wanda Diamond League.
The series comprises 15 meetings in total across four different continents and started with Xiamen (China) on April 20. It concludes with a single final across two days in Brussels (13-14 September).
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