From the rise of new sprint legends to another flurry of world records in both track and field, 2025 was another vintage year in the Wanda Diamond League.
Between April and August, the world’s best athletes crossed four different continents in athletics’ premier one-day series as they honed their form ahead of the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
In the first part of our season review, we look back at the highlights from the first three meetings of the season in Xiamen, Keqiao and Doha.
Xiamen: Warholm’s world best
The 2025 season got off to a typically bombastic start as Norwegian star Karsten Warholm made hurdles history in Xiamen.
The season opener in China saw a new innovation, with the 300m hurdles held as a Diamond Discipline for the very first time.
Warholm made it an evening to remember, clocking the fastest time ever recorded in the discipline with 33.05.
It was the first of two 300m hurdles world bests set by the Norwegian over the course of the season, as he returned to world-beating form after a few years plagued by injury.
“I was a little bit surprised by how easy my legs were feeling off the last bend,” he said. “Of course you feel it a little bit in the end, but I managed to really push in the last 45 metres. This shows that the speed is there and the speed over the hurdles is there.”
Xiamen also saw superb performances from Kenyan distance stars Faith Kipyegon and Beatrice Chebet.
Kipyegon came agonisingly close to breaking the 1000m world record, clocking the third-fastest time ever with 2:29.21.
Her compatriot Chebet smashed the 5000m meeting record with 14:27.12 to kickstart a brilliant run of form in the first half of the season.
Keqiao: Tinch embarks on road to gold
The hurdles were front and centre once again as the Road to the Final continued a week later with the second meeting of the series in Keqiao.
This time, it was US sprint hurdler Cordell Tinch who grabbed the headlines, racing to a superb 12.87 to become the fourth-fastest man in history in the 110m hurdles.
Tinch had already won in Xiamen, and his world-leading performance in Keqiao proved to be the next step en route to both the Diamond League and world titles in 2025.
“It sounds pretty good (to be joint fourth on the world all-time list). I just wanted to go out there and compete after winning last week,” he said. “I felt like I was going to run something fast, but it is matter of trying to finish those races when I get out well.”
Pole vault world record holder Mondo Duplantis also showed his class in Keqiao, jumping a meeting record of 6.11m.
The Swedish star was one of several to break a meeting record, with Warholm, Akani Simbine and Yaroslava Mahuchikh among the other record-breakers.
Doha: Weber and Chopra break 90 metres
All eyes were on Neeraj Chopra ahead of the third meeting of the season in Doha, with the Indian javelin star hoping to finally break the elusive 90-metre mark.
An Olympic and Diamond League champion already, Chopra was still yet to join the 90-metre club and was counting on the support of Qatar’s sizeable Indian community to help him over the line in Doha.
He didn’t disappoint, throwing 90.23m in round three to set a new Indian record and reach a major career milestone.
Yet Chopra’s celebrations were cut short when German rival Julian Weber suddenly arrived to spoil the party.
In the final round of the competition, Weber launched a staggering 91.06m to snatch victory away from Chopra and begin his journey to the Diamond League title.
It was only the seventh time in history that two men have thrown further than 90 metres in the same competition.
“The conditions here in Doha with the backwind is great for us javelin throwers. If you make the right adjustments and throw a little higher, it just flies great,” said Weber. “I was really happy for Neeraj because he had been fighting for that 90-metre throw for some time and it was really special to achieve it tonight.”
Other impressive performances in Doha included a world lead from Jamaica’s Tia Clayton in the women’s 100m and an impressive victory from Kenya’s Faith Cherotich over Olympic champion Winfred Yavi in the women’s 3000m steeplechase.
