Xiamen 2025: Five things to look out for

It’s that time of year again! The 2025 Wanda Diamond League kicks off in Xiamen this Saturday, with some of the world’s best athletes taking their first steps towards the series final and the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

Here are five things to look out for at the first meeting of the season.

More Mondo magic?

Pole vault superstar Mondo Duplantis stunned the world at last year’s season opener in Xiamen, clearing 6.24m with just his fourth jump of the outdoor season and posting the earliest world record ever seen in a decade and a half of Diamond League history. Few would rule out another extraordinary performance this time around from Duplantis, who has broken the world record twice more since and goes into this season aiming for a fifth successive Diamond League title. In Xiamen, he takes on fellow Olympic medallists Sam Kendricks and Emmanouil Karalis, but the real question is likely to be not who wins, but how how high Mondo can fly this time.

Kilometre Kipyegon

Another star who has been ripping up the history books in recent years is Kenyan distance legend Faith Kipyegon. The 31-year-old has broken four world records in three different disciplines over the past two Diamond League seasons, and she is not done yet. As well as her long-term plan to be the first woman to run a four-minute mile, the Kenyan star also has the chance to add another mark to her glistening array of world records in Xiamen, where she lines up in the 1000m. The current record stands at 2:28.98, just 0.17 seconds quicke than Kipyegon’s current personal best over the kilometre.

Mahuchikh’s throne under threat?

Ukrainian star Yaroslava Mahuchikh has dominated the Diamond League in recent years, winning three successive titles and notching up 19 victories in the series since 2021. Yet she will have her work cut out when she launches the new campaign in Xiamen, as she goes up against Australian rivals Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson. Both managed to beat Mahuchikh at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing last month, with the Ukrainian taking bronze as Olyslagers defended the title and Patterson came in second. Mahuchikh will be hoping to bounce back in Xiamen, though she insists that the rivalry is friendly as well as fierce: “We compete with each other all the time in the Diamond League, so we are very close to each other. When someone jumps high or gets a personal best, the others are always so happy for them,” she said.

Read: Yaroslava Mahuchikh on world records, high jump rivalries and war in Ukraine.

Holloway among hurdles heavyweights

In an interview with diamondleague.com this week, Olympic champion Grant Holloway explained why the Diamond League provides such great preparation for major championships in the 110m hurdles: “I’ve been on the circuit six to seven years now and not once have I ever had an easy Diamond League race. I think for all the top hurdlers, male and female, there’s no ducking and dodging.” That’s certainly true in Xiamen, where the field includes five sub-13 hurdlers, including Holloway, Paris silver medallist Daniel Roberts and Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Hansle Parchment.

Read: Grant Holloway on chasing the world record and why winning the Diamond League transformed his career.

Showdown in the 100m

The 110m hurdles is not the only race which will be stacked full of heavyweights on Saturday. The line-up men’s 100m is also a veritable who’s who of some of the world’s most in-form sprinters. Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo leads the line, as he shifts his focus to the shorter distance this year. Yet the Botswanan is by no means guaranteed victory, as he goes up against 60m world indoor champion Jeremiah Azu of Great Britain, former world and Diamond League champion Christian Coleman of the USA and fellow African stars Akani Simbine of South Africa, Emmanuel Eseme of Cameroon and Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya.