Olympic and World 1500 champion Faith Kipyegon leads a stellar cast of athletes for the Diamond League opener in Xiamen, China on April 20.
Kipyegon, a two-time Olympic champion and four-time world champion, has not been beaten in a 1,500m race since 2021, but the Kenyan faces a stern test over her specialist distance in Xiamen.
She will take on ten other women, who have run below four minutes, including Ethiopia’s world 10,000m champion Gudaf Tsegay, who broke Kipyegon’s world 5,000m record last year.
Diribe Welteji, who beat Kipyegon to the world road mile title in Riga, Latvia, last year, is also in the line-up, as is world indoor 1,500m champion Freweyni Hailu.
Fresh from winning gold in the women's 3000m steeplechase during the Africa Games in Ghana, world record holder Beatrice Chepkoech will battle it out against World champion Winifred Yavi of Bahrain Bahrain and fellow compatriot Faith Cherotich.
The 2018 Commonwealth Games 800m champion Wycliff Kinyamal faces a tough test against the world champion over the distance Marco Arop of Canada alongside USA’s Clayton Murphy, the 2016 Olympic bronze medallist.
The men’s 100m will feature a clash between sprint superpowers USA and Jamaica, with past world 100m champions Fred Kerley and Christian Coleman leading the United States' charge.
They’ll be keen to get one over Jamaican rivals, who include 2011 world champion Yohan Blake, world indoor bronze medallist Ackeem Blake and 2023 Jamaican champion Rohan Watson.
The men’s high jump will see three-time world champion Mutaz Barshim take on world indoor champion Hamish Kerr of New Zealand. Meanwhile, the men’s triple jump will pit world champion Zango against Olympic champion Pichardo.
The women’s 400m serves up a rematch between the three medallists from last year’s world final, with Paulino facing Natalia Kaczmarek of Poland and Sada Williams of Barbados. The field includes four other sub-50-second athletes, including USA’s Britton Wilson and Talitha Diggs.
The women’s 100m hurdles will feature a riveting showdown between Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico and the two most recent world champions: Tobi Amusan of Nigeria and Danielle Williams of Jamaica.
