World Athletics Diamond League Starts April 20

By: Gyang Dakwo

It is time for the first event of the 2024 Wanda Diamond League season, and many of the world’s best track and field athletes are headed to Xiamen, China on 20 April, to help kick off the 15-event schedule.

It will include 12 Olympic gold medalists and 27 world champions.

Among the men’s entrants will be reigning Olympic champions Armand Duplantis of Sweden (pole vault), Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar (high jump) and Pedro Pichardo of Portugal (triple jump).

The women’s field at the Xiamen Olympic Sports Center include 5000m world record holder, Gudaf Tsegay, superstar Sha’Carri Richardson of the United States, women’s steeplechase, world record-holder Beatrice Chepkoech and a host of others.

Top to bottom, the season-opening Diamond League Xiamen 2024 will deliver exactly what the circuit promises – the best in the world and compelling matchups in every event.

For the first half of this year the schedule will be even more exciting as the athletes continue to test themselves and get tuned up for the upcoming Olympics in Paris.

The 2024 Diamond League season will run through mid-September, with a short break for the Olympics in early August.

Xiamen will include seven men’s disciplines and eight women’s disciplines, as athletes begin collecting points toward the year’s final event in Belgium.

The invitation-only Diamond League brings together the most elite track & field athletes to showcase their skills, earn prize money, collect points toward the season-ending championship event and ultimately elevate the status of athletics across the globe.

Traditionally, Diamond League competition includes a slate of 16 disciplines. Points accumulated during the first 14 events of the season determine the athletes who advance to the final event, where they compete for more prize money and Diamond League titles.