Italian long jump star Larissa Iapichino will kickstart her bid for a third successive Wanda Diamond League title in the women’s long jump at the season opener in Shanghai/Keqiao next month.
Iapichino headlines a formidable long jump field which also features World Championships bronze medallist Natalia Linares and 2025 world indoor champion Claire Bryant.
The 24-year-old has dominated the Diamond League in recent seasons, picking up six wins en route to back-to-back titles in 2024 and 2025.
She heads into the 2026 season as world number three after winning silver at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Poland earlier this year.
Keqiao will be Iapichino’s first appearance at a Diamond League meeting in China and she will be hoping to make it the seventh city in which she has won a Diamond League meeting.
Colombia’s Linares and the USA’s Bryant lead the rest of a field that also includes Quanesha Burks, Lex Brown, Khaddia Sagnia, Monae’ Nichols, Pauline Hondema and Chinese stars Xiong Shiqi and Tan Mengyi.
Shanghai/Keqiao is the opening leg of the 2026 Wanda Diamond League, which will cross four continents and 15 cities en route to the two-day series final in Brussels on September 4-5.
The series unites the biggest names in track and field in some of the world’s most iconic arenas, crossing four continents and 15 cities over the course of the season.
