The Diamond League series has added Shenzhen as a second Chinese location for 2022.
Shanghai is the other location.
The two events go on July, 30 and Aug. 6, 2022. Shanghai was cancelled in 2021 due to the pandemic.
— Wanda Diamond League (@Diamond_League) December 21, 2021
The series starts in Doha, Qatar on May 28. Then competition moves on to the following cities: Birmingham, UK, Eugene, Rabat, Rome, Oslo, Paris, Stockholm, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Monaco, Lausanne, Brussels, and ends in Zurich on Sept. 8.
The Diamond League offers 32 disciplines, in a championship-style series. Athletes earn points at the 13 series meets to qualify for the final.
At each of the 13 meets, Athletes are awarded 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, or 1 point for ranking 1st to 8th respectively. The top 6 in the field events, top eight for 100m-800m, and the top 10 for 1500m and long distances will qualify for the final. In case of a tie, the best legal performance of the qualification phase wins.
The Final 3 format, which is trialled throughout the season in horizontal and technical disciplines, will not be used in the Wanda Diamond League Final.
The winner of each Diamond Discipline at the Final will become “Diamond League Champion” and be awarded a Diamond Trophy, USD 30’000 prize money, and a wild card for the World Athletics Championships (certain conditions apply).
Paula Radcliffe supports Kenya’s bid for 2025 World Championships
Former marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe supports Kenya’s bid to host the 2025 World Athletics Championships.
She added that the decision to strike out distance running events and jumps from prime time at Diamond League events wasn’t wise.
While visiting Kenya for charity work, Radcliffe said that Kenya has shown that it has the capacity to host another major athletics championship following the success of the 2017 World Athletics U-18 and 2021 World Athletics Under-20 Championships.
Meanwhile, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe expressed interest in an African nation to host the 2025 World Athletics Championships.
According to Inside the Games The Diamond League General Assembly approved a revision to the “Final Three” format for throwing and jumping events, scrapping the last-round shootout for the win but giving special coverage for athletes on their sixth attempt.
The change was made after criticism over the competition format, which would see the top three athletes have their marks erased from the first five rounds.
Sprinter Ferdinand Omanyala asks Athletics Kenya for more meets
African 100m champion Ferdinand Omanyala has asked Athletics Kenya to put on more sprint events. He believes that only through competition can athletes improve.
He told the Star of Kenya, “We need more events, maybe increase them from five to 10 or 15. This year I learnt that competition is the best teacher and form of training. As sprinters, we do not really need high altitude training but simply a tartan track and electronic timing so that when a record is broken, it is not in vain.”
The 25-year-old owns the African and Kenyan national record for the 100m in 9.77. Most of his personal best performances have happened in Kenya at the Moi International Sports Centre in Nairobi.
While Radcliffe and Coe support international competition in Africa, the African champion agrees, but these events happen once every so many years. He is seeking regularly scheduled competition.
