Top five things to watch out for at Doha Diamond League 2025

Four Indians will participate at the Doha Diamond League 2025.

Doha Diamond League 2025 will start on Friday, May 16, at Suheim bin Hamad Stadium, marking the third leg of the 2025 Diamond League series. After two high-energy stops in China, the action now shifts west to Qatar with athletes arriving fresh from the recent World Relays.

Also Read: Doha Diamond League 2025 Live Updates

In Doha, athletes will compete in 14 Diamond League events, including eight in the men’s category and six in the women’s. A total of 45 Olympic and world championship medallists will be in action in the Doha Diamond League. Here are the five things to watch out for at the Doha Diamond League 2025.

Fraser-Pryce returns

With 25 victories and five series titles, Jamaican sprint legend Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is one of the most successful athletes in Diamond League history. In Doha, the 38-year-old superstar will hope to add to that tally when she lines up in the 100m against Mujinga Kambundji and compatriots Natasha Morrison and Tia and Tina Clayton.

Victory would be her first in the Diamond League since 2022, and would be a potential first step towards a record-equalling sixth Diamond Trophy in 2025. She knows how to do it, having won in Doha twice before in 2014 and 2021.

Tebogo takes on the 200m

Having become the first African ever to win gold in the men’s 200m at the Olympic Games in Paris last season, Botswana sprint star Letsile Tebogo announced he would switch his focus to the 100m in 2025. After opening his Diamond League campaign with 100m appearances in Xiamen and Keqiao, however, Tebogo will be back on familiar territory when he takes on his first 200m of the campaign in Doha.

Canada’s Aaron Brown and Liberia’s Joseph Fahnbulleh will provide tough competition, but the Olympic champion remains a firm favourite as he eyes a first Diamond League win of the season.

Olympic rematch in the steeplechase

Distance events are always a raucous affair at the Qatar Sports Club, as Doha’s proud contingent of Kenyan and Ethiopian fans get fully behind their favourite athletes. This time, it will be the women’s 3000m steeplechase which takes centre stage, with all three Olympic medallists from 2024 on the starting line.

Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi won gold in Paris, while Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai and Kenya’s Faith Cherotich took silver and bronze. All three will be making their first Diamond League appearance of the season, while for Cherotich, this will be her first appearance as reigning series champion.

Neeraj Chopra launches title bid

Another athlete who is hoping for crowd support in Doha is javelin star Neeraj Chopra. The 2021 Olympic champion made history in 2022 when he became the first Indian athlete ever to win the Diamond League title, and he will be hoping to take a first step towards regaining that crown when he launches his 2025 campaign on Friday.

“I’m always overwhelmed by the support I get from the Indian people in Qatar – there aren’t enough words to thank them,” said Chopra ahead of his fourth career appearance at the Qatari meeting.

Triple jump showdown

There will be another Olympic rematch in the women’s triple jump, as Paris gold medallist Thea LaFond goes up against Jamaica’s silver medallist Shanieka Ricketts. There is little to separate the two women, who are ranked two and three in the world at the moment, and both have a personal best of more than 15 metres.

Ricketts has a slightly better Diamond League record, with six wins to LaFond’s one, and won the title in 2019. Joining her on the runway will be a familiar but also surprising face, five-time Diamond League long jump champion Ivana Spanovic.

For more updates, follow Khel Now on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram