Olympic Medallists Moon, Newman To Clash In Doha

Doha, Qatar: Katie Moon (USA) and Alysha Newman (CAN) – who won silver and bronze medals respectively at the Olympic Games in Paris – will clash again in a top-quality women's pole vault at the Jetour Doha Meeting on May 16.

Moon, a two-time world champion (Eugene 2022 and Budapest 2023), was Olympic champion in Tokyo 2021 and has a best of 4.95m. She was a world indoor medallist in 2022 (silver) and 2024 (bronze) and was crowned Diamond League champion in 2023.

“The 2025 indoor season was the best of my life and it was a tough decision to forego the World Indoor Championships,” said the 33-year-old who won her fifth US indoor title in February and jumped 4.80m or higher in every meet over the winter.

• Olympic steeplechase medallists to rematch at Doha Diamond League

“But my goal for the year is to retain my world title in Tokyo, and with such a long outdoor season ahead I have to make sensible decisions. To return to competition in Doha is a really exciting prospect for me, especially after winning there in 2023. The crowd there is always unbelievable and it's a great opportunity to get the summer off to a strong start.”

The 2018 Commonwealth champion Newman gave the performance of her life when finishing third in Paris and in doing so improved her own Canadian record to 4.85m. With her focus on preparing for the 2025 World Athletics Championships in September she chose to wrap up her indoor season after one competition (4.50m for second at the World Athletics Indoor Tour meet in Ostrava in February). She will open her Diamond League campaign in Doha.

Moon and Newman will be joined at the Qatar Sports Club by British record holder and 2024 world indoor champion Molly Caudery (PB: 4.92m) who took victory in Doha last year; New Zealand record holder Eliza McCartney (PB: 4.94m), 2016 Olympic bronze medallist and runner-up in the 2024 World Indoor Championships; 2016 Olympic silver medallist Sandi Morris (USA), twice world indoor champion and three-times world outdoor silver medallist (PB: 5.00m); and Slovenian record holder Tina Šutej (PB: 4.82m), world and European indoor silver medallist in 2025.

Unfortunately, Olympic and world champion Nina Kennedy (AUS), the Australian record holder with a best of 4.91m, has confirmed that she's had hamstring surgery and will miss the start of the 2025 outdoor season.

The Jetour Doha Meeting is the third meeting of the 2025 Wanda Diamond League.

MENAFN24042025000063011010ID1109466947