The World Athletics Championships in Tokyo were already looming large on the horizon when the Wanda Diamond League returned from its mid-season break in August.
Silesia, Lausanne and Brussels were the last three series meetings of 2025 and the last chance for the world’s best athletes to book their ticket to the Wanda Diamond League Final in Zurich.
Yet they were also a chance for would-be world champions to prove their title-winning form ahead of Tokyo.
In part five of our 2025 season review, we take a look back at all the drama from the home straight on the Road to the Final.
Silesia: Thompson takes revenge
Revenge was a dish served boiling hot for Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson as he beat Noah Lyles in a much-anticipated men’s 100m on a sweltering, sunny Sunday in Silesia.
Thompson had suffered an agonisingly narrow defeat to Lyles in the Olympic 100m final a year earlier, and in Poland, all eyes were on the two sprinters as they met for the first time since that race in Paris.
This time, it was Thompson who had the edge, the Jamaican beating his US rival by just 0.03 seconds with 9.87.
His win was one of several highlights on an afternoon which saw no fewer than three Diamond League records.
Olympic champion Masai Russell showed her class once again in the women’s 100m hurdles, posting the joint third-fastest time in history with 12.19.
Karsten Warholm rampaged to a blistering 46.28 in the men’s 400m hurdles to also set a new world lead and series record.
Meanwhile in the women’s 3000m, Faith Kipyegon only just missed out on the world record, clocking 8:07.04 for the second-fastest time in history.
“I am so happy,” said the Kenyan. “I saw the world record line during the race but today it was very hot. I want to come back here next year. All those records, this is what I love doing. I want to be an inspiration for young people and I love to challenge myself.”
Dutch 400m hurdles star Femke Bol posted a world lead of 51.91, taking her second sub-52 time in a matter of weeks in the Diamond League and continuing her inexorable march to World Championship gold.
Amid all the records, the headline women’s 100m almost flew a little under the radar. Yet Melissa Jefferson-Wooden’s win was also a sign of things to come.
Just a few weeks after claiming her first ever Diamond League win in Eugene, the soon-to-be world champion stormed to a first overseas victory in the series to cement her status as the woman to beat in the 100m.
Lausanne: Seville sparkles in the rain
After the sunshine of Silesia, the sport’s biggest names faced a very different challenge amid a torrential downpour in Lausanne.
Rarely has a Diamond League meeting seen as much rain as this year’s Athletissima, with conditions so bad the women’s pole vault had to be cancelled to ensure athlete safety.
Yet that did nothing to stop the drama, as several future world champions defied the rain to deliver statement performances at one of the oldest and most storied meetings on the circuit.
Chief among them was Oblique Seville, who stole the headlines once again with another impressive win over Olympic champion Noah Lyles in the men’s 100m.
The 24-year-old stormed to a brilliant 9.87, making mincemeat of the rest of the field and landing his second victory over Lyles in a matter of weeks.
It would prove to be another major step on his route to World Championship gold in Tokyo the following month.
The same was true of Cordell Tinch, who notched up his fourth win in six Diamond League races in Silesia.
Green Bay-born Tinch was unfazed by the wet conditions as he sailed to a superb 12.98.
Other athletes had more trouble with the weather, however, and there were surprise defeats for Emmanuel Wanyonyi in the men’s 800m and Masai Russell in the women’s 100m hurdles.
Brussels: Jefferson-Wooden’s streak continues
The final stop on the Road to the Final, Brussels saw the big names flex their muscles one more time before hitting the big stage in Zurich and Tokyo.
3000m steeplechase Olympic champion Winfred Yavi grabbed the headlines with her groundbreaking attempt a mile steeplechase, while US shot put star Chase Jackson snagged a meeting record with a third-round throw of 20.90m.
Yet the star of the show was once again Jefferson-Wooden, who continued her incredible unbeaten streak with a third successive Diamond League win.
The American blazed to 10.76 to land yet another comfortable victory against a heavyweight field which included Sha’Carri Richardson, Daryll Neita and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
“I know that I’m in great shape and that it’s all about putting together the perfect race at the perfect time, when it matters the most, and that is at the World Championships in Tokyo,” she said.
She would do just that a few weeks later, crowning her incredible Diamond League campaign with a gold medal in Tokyo.
