Between April and August, the world’s best athletes crossed four different continents in the Wanda Diamond League as they honed their form ahead of the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
As the series headed to Africa and Europe in May, it was Kenyan distance star Beatrice Chebet who stole the headlines with a string of records.
In the second part of our season review, we look back at the highlights from the second three meetings of the season in Rabat, Rome and Oslo.
Rabat: Diamond League record for Chebet
The African leg of the Wanda Diamond League proved to be a red letter night for African athletes, with Beatrice Chebet leading the charge.
The Kenyan distance star had already been in ominous form at the first few meetings of the season and she delivered her best performance yet with a 3000m Diamond League record in the Moroccan capital.
Chebet’s 8:11.56 was also an African record and the second-fastest time in history and it left the 25-year-old promising even faster times in future.
“I am so happy,” said Chebet. “I was not preparing for a world record attempt, I just came to run my personal best and that’s what I did. I just have to believe in myself and then maybe after some months or years, that world record will come.
Chebet wasn’t the only African athlete to shine in Rabat, as Botswana’s Tshepiso Masalela won the 800m and Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali triumphed in the 3000m steeplechase.
Masalela clocked a PB of 1:42.70 to inflict a surprise defeat on Olympic and Diamond League champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi, while El Bakkali held off a late charge from Germany’s Frederik Ruppert to delight the crowd with another win at his home Diamond League meeting.
Dutch 400m hurdles star also got her title defence off to a flying start with a meeting record fo 52.46.
Rome: Chebet threatens world record
A week on from her exploits in Rabat, Chebet’s pursuit of a world record continued as the Road to the Final touched down in Europe for the first time.
At the Pietro Mennea Golden Gala in Rome, the Kenyan star raced to a brilliant meeting record of 14:03.69 in the women’s 5000m, once again becoming the second-fastest woman in history in the process.
In what would prove to be a sign of things to come, her time was just three seconds short of Gudaf Tsegay’s world record, set at the Wanda Diamond League Final in Eugene in 2023.
“I see that my body is in good shape, and I am capable of the world record, so now I am going home and will prepare for it. Everything is possible – if I get someone who will push me up to 3000m, it is possible,” said Chebet.
Rome also threw up a few surprises on the track.
The USA’s Trayvon Bromell stormed to a world lead of 9.84 in the men’s 100m, clocking his fastest time in three years.
Meanwhile in the men’s 110m hurdles, in-form Cordell Tinch suffered a surprise defeat to Switzerland’s Jason Joseph.
Oslo: Warholm breaks 33 seconds
When the world’s best athletes arrived in Oslo for the Bislett Games in June, all eyes were on the 300m hurdles.
After his brilliant world best in Xiamen at the start of the season, Karsten Warholm faced his toughest test yet over the shorter distance.
In a rare meeting of the three fastest400m hurdlers in history, Warholm was up against Diamond League champion Alison Dos Santos and Olympic champion Rai Benjamin in front of his home crowd, and after a surprise defeat to Dos Santos on home soil a year earlier, he had a score to settle.
The Norwegian settled it emphatically, racing to another world best of 32.67 to become the first man ever to go under 33 seconds in the 300m hurdles.
“The race went well although I was rather worried with how much Rai (Benjamin) was closing on me,” Warholm said. “But I knew I could push on over the last hurdle to home. I usually fade at the end of the 400 so the 300 suits me to some degree,” he said.
Elsewhere in Oslo, Mondo Duplantis soared to a meeting record of 6.15m in the pole vault and Wanyonyi bounced back from his defeat in Rabat to claim a season’s best of 1:42.78 in the men’s 800m.
