World record-holders Faith Kipyegon and Mondo Duplantis will launch their Wanda Diamond League seasons in Xiamen on 20 April.
The world athletes of the year are among 12 Olympic gold medallists and 27 world champions who will light up the spectacular Egret Stadium, which hosted the inaugural Wanda Diamond League meeting in Xiamen last September.
Kipyegon, a two-time Olympic champion and four-time world champion, has not been beaten in a 1500m race since 2021, but the Kenyan faces a stern test over her specialist distance in Xiamen. She will take on 10 women who have run below four minutes, including Ethiopia’s world 10,000m champion Gudaf Tsegay, who broke Kipyegon’s world 5000m record last year.
Diribe Welteji, who beat Kipyegon to the world road mile title in Riga last year, is also in the line-up, as is world indoor 1500m champion Freweyni Hailu.
In the men’s pole vault, Duplantis is one of four six-metre vaulters in the field. The Swede – who recently won his second world indoor title – will have to be near his best in Xiamen to beat US trio Christopher Nilsen, Sam Kendricks and KC Lightfoot.
Among the other reigning Olympic champions set to feature are Qatari high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim, US discus thrower Valarie Allman, Portuguese triple jumper Pedro Pichardo, Jamaican sprint hurdler Hansle Parchment, and Chinese throwers Gong Lijiao and Liu Shiying.
The meeting also features a slew of world champions including US sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, discus thrower Laulauga Tausaga, shot putter Chase Jackson, along with Dominican Republic’s 400m specialist Marileidy Paulino, Canadian 800m runner Marco Arop, triple jumper Hugues Fabrice Zango of Burkina Faso, and Bahraini steeplechaser Winfred Mutile Yavi.
Story: World Athletics
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