Armand Duplantis celebrates next to the board after he broke world pole vault record of 6.17 metres at the Orlen Copernicus Cup 2020 World Athletics Indoor meeting.
Doha: The Doha Diamond League - the season finale - is set to feature exciting competition with an array of world class athletes targeting to end their campaign on a high.
Tomorrow’s last meet of the curtailed Diamond League season at the Qatar Sports Club Stadium will see one of the deepest line-ups in teh event.
The 3000m field will feature a clash between world 5000m champion Hellen Obiri and world steeplechase champion Beatrice Chepkoech. In fact, five medallists from four different disciplines at last year’s World Championships will be back in action in Doha – and even then, that only scratches the surface of the quality of the field.
Obiri opened her outdoor campaign in Monaco last month, winning the 5000m in a world-leading 14:22.12, just four seconds shy of her Kenyan record. She has fond memories of Doha, too, as it is where she set a Kenyan 3000m record of 8:20.68 in 2014, following it with victories over 3000m at Doha’s Diamond League meeting last year and over 5000m at the World Championships at the same venue.
Chepkoech also opened her outdoor season in Monaco, clocking 14:55.01 for 5000m, and she followed it with a 9:10.07 run for second place in the steeplechase at the Continental Tour meeting in Berlin earlier this month. The steeplechase world record-holder is one of four women in the field with a PB inside 8:30.
Other athletes in the field who stood on the podium in Doha last year include 5000m silver medallist Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi, 10,000m bronze medallist and 2015 world cross-country champion Agnes Tirop, and 1500m bronze medallist Gudaf Tsegay.
In fact, all 16 women in the field own a medal from a global or continental championship, or hold a world or continental record. The quality is such that they all deserve a mention: 2015 world steeplechase champion Hyvin Kiyeng, world U18 champion Lemlem Hailu, world U20 champion Beatrice Chebet, African Games 10,000m champion Tsehay Gemechu, African 1500m champion Winny Chebet, African Games 1500m champion Quailyne Jebiwott Kiprop, European 5000m silver medallist Eilish McColgan, European 1500m bronze medallist Laura Weightman, European indoor bronze medallist Melissa Courtney-Bryant, and Oceania record-holders Genevieve Gregson and Jessica Hull.
Mondo Duplantis will also aim to end his year on a high – quite literally – when he lines up for his final pole vault competition of the year.
The 20-year-old from Sweden has enjoyed a dream season, setting world records of 6.17m and 6.18m indoors and maintaining a winning streak throughout the whole of 2020. His latest victory was a 6.15m clearance – the highest outdoor vault in history – at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Rome last week.
If he’s feeling good, he may well decide to take an attempt at a would-be world record height of 6.19m, though Duplantis himself would be quick to point out that records are by no means a certainty every time he sets foot on the runway.
His main goal will be to keep his winning streak intact, which in itself will be no easy task as he takes on two-time world champion Sam Kendricks and 2012 Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie.
It’s not just the women’s 3000m that will bring together some of the world’s best across a range of disciplines; the men’s 1500m has attracted world and Olympic medallists from the steeplechase and 5000m.
World and Olympic steeplechase champion Conseslus Kipruto will make his season debut in what will be his first 1500m race in five years. The 25-year-old Kenyan will be joined by his two fellow medallists from last year’s World Championships, Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma and Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali, who have set PBs this year of 3:35.67 and 3:34.51 respectively. Kipruto may have proven time and again that he is the best over the barriers, but this is a test to see who has the greatest foot speed.
Ethiopia’s Selemon Barega, the world 5000m silver medallist, will also step down in distance in a bid to improve on his recent PB of 3:36.07. Australia’s Stewart McSweyn, fresh from setting an Oceanian 3000m record in Rome, has the fastest season’s best of the field (3:31.48) and will be a formidable opponent.
Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon is another athlete who heads to Doha off the back of an unbeaten run, and she too will move down in distance. The 26-year-old Kenyan has notched up two victories over 1000m this year, producing two of the five fastest times in history with her 2:29.15 run in Monaco and 2:29.92 win in Brussels. She followed it with a dominant 3:59.05 run over 1500m, her specialist distance, at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Ostrava.
Double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah and multiple world medallist Marie-Josee Ta Lou will renew their rivalry in what will be their fourth clash in Doha.
Thompson-Herah won their first Doha duel back in 2017, winning the 200m in 22.19, but Ivorian Ta Lou gained revenge over 100m one year later, winning in 10.85. Their third clash in the Qatari capital came at last year’s World Championships, where Ta Lou finished third in the 100m, one place ahead of the Jamaican.
Following her world-leading 10.85 in Rome – where Ta Lou placed third in 11.14 – Thompson-Herah will start as the 100m favourite in Doha on Friday. US duo Aleia Hobbs and Kayla White should also feature at the top end of the race.
