Diamond League kicks off amid talk on Grand Slam Track series

Kenya's Faith Kipyegon reacts as she crosses the finish line in the women's 1500m final on August 10, 2024. (Photo by Jewel SAMAD / AFP)

The Diamond League meeting in Xiamen is the season's first leg as athletes prepare for the World Championships.

Former US sprint star Johnson founded Grand Slam Track, which debuted in Kingston earlier this month.

AFP, Paris

Faith Kipyegon and Beatrice Chebet head up a stellar cast of athletes kicking off the 16th Diamond League season in Xiamen on Saturday amid a changing landscape that has seen Michael Johnson launch his Grand Slam track series.

Kipyegon will begin her campaign for a record-equalling sixth Diamond League title when she lines up in the women's 1000m.

Kenyan legend Kipyegon has dominated the distance events in recent years, claiming her fifth Diamond Trophy at the series final in Brussels last September.

She now needs just one more series title to equal Sandra Elkasevic's record and become the joint most successful female athlete in Diamond League history.

A three-time Olympic champion and four-time world champion, Kipyegon has also become a serial world record breaker in recent Diamond League seasons, notching up four world records in 2023 and 2024.

Her current personal best in the 1000m is 2:29.15, an African record which is less than 0.2 seconds off the world record held by Svetlana Masterkova.

Meanwhile, double Olympic champion Chebet will be lining up in the 5000m. Once again, she will main rival over the event, Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay.

As the Diamond League season starts, though, talk is still about how it compares with the Grand Slam Track series.

Petr Stastny, CEO of the Diamond League, insisted that he welcomed competition, but added he thought the 15-meet circuit he oversees was the "backbone" of global athletics, with a record US$9.2 million in prize money on offer.

"You will get the most comprehensive coverage on the highest possible level of competition in our sport, in track and field. Great arenas, great big crowds," Stastny said.

Former US sprint star Johnson founded Grand Slam Track, which debuted in Kingston earlier this month.

Conceived by Johnson as a way of reinvigorating interest in athletics outside of Olympic years, his four-event series aims to showcase more races between the world's best runners, sprinters, and hurdlers. There are no field events.

"We feel strongly that the sport is more than just track, and we will continue growing the sport and not just a part of the sport," said Stastny. "We see other events and series being established around us, which we are, generally speaking, happy about.

"But we are the backbone of the sport between the major championships, including the Olympics. We have track and field, that's one. We are truly global.

"With one event in Jamaica and three in the United States, I think it depends on how you define global," he said about the Grand Slam Series.

"I see a substantial difference. Being truly global means that you have athletes from a lot of countries, and so far we've had it in the Diamond League -- athletes from 142 countries competing. I don't see that happening, at least for now, anywhere else."

While the athletes in Kingston served up some high-quality performances, Johnson's opening event failed to capture the imagination of spectators.

There is also an absence of several high-profile athletes, including Olympic men's and women's 100m champions Noah Lyles and Julien Alfred, among the 48 racers contracted, with $30 million in funding.

Their absence suggests both will soon be plying their trade on the Diamond League circuit, with a long season featuring meets that are often sold out, ending with the September 13-21 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.