One of the biggest stars in world athletics began his Wanda Diamond League campaign in July as the sport’s premier one-day series continued in front of packed out stadiums in Monaco and London.
Noah Lyles was chasing a record sixth title in 2025, but his route to the final was trickier than ever as the most exciting rising stars in sprinting stepped up to challenge him on the Diamond League stage.
In Part IV of our 2025 season review, we take a look back at all the action from the Stade Louis II and the London Stadium.
Monaco: Lyles launches title bid
After missing much of the first half of the season through injury, Noah Lyles was chomping at the bit by the time he kickstarted his Diamond League season in Monaco.
Never one to shy away from the biggest battles, Lyles jumped right in at the deep end with a 200m clash against his fellow Olympic gold medallist Letsile Tebogo.
Tebogo had beaten Lyles in the 200m final in Paris, and this was a chance for the American to restake his claim to supremacy over the longer distance.
He did just that, clocking 19.88 in his first race for three months to claim a comfortable victory over his Botswanan rival.
It was one of several statement wins on the famously fast Stade Louis II track, with 800m and 400m hurdles Diamond League champions Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Femke Bol also impressing on their first ever appearances in Monaco.
Facing perhaps the most competitive 800m field ever seen outside a major championships, Wanyonyi clocked a breathtaking 1:41.44 to set a new world lead and meeting record and fuel talk of a potential world record.
He completed his first lap in 49.21, a fraction faster than compatriot David Rudisha’s split when he broke the world record in 2012.
Bol also made history in the hurdles, adding Monaco to her long list of Diamond League meeting records.
Herculis was one of the few meetings where Bol had never won ahead of 2025, but she changed that emphatically with a world lead of 51.95.
London: Seville shakes up the sprints
Lyles was back in action a week later in London, this time hoping to make a winning start to his 100m campaign.
Having claimed 100m gold at the Olympics a year earlier, the American was the favourite as he lined up in a strong field which included Tebogo, in-form South African Akani Simbine and mercurial Jamaican talent Oblique Seville.
Yet Lyles was left stunned as Seville streaked past him to snatch a comfortable win in 9.86, coming in a full 0.14 seconds ahead of the Olympic champion.
It was a performance which set the tone for a sudden power shift in the 100m, as Seville went on to take the world title later in the year.
“It’s something special for me,” said the 24-year-old Jamaican in London. “I’m one of the top athletes in the world, nobody can take that away from me. It’s just that I haven’t delivered on the biggest stage yet, but I’m sure one day that will happen.”
Other incredible performances in London included a Diamond League record from Mykolas Alekna in the discus, a world lead from Julien Alfred in the 200m and a near-world record in the mile from Gudaf Tsegay.
World record holder Alekna launched 71.70m in the third round, adding almost half a metre to Kristjan Ceh’s previous series record and snatching victory away from the Slovenian in the process.
For the Lithuanian, it was a landmark win en route to his first ever Diamond League title in 2025.
Alfred bounced back from defeat to Melissa Jefferson-Wooden in the 100m in Eugene with a superb 21.71 in the 200m, setting a new national record and meeting record.
Meanwhile Tsegay posted the second fastest time in history with 4.11.88 in the women’s mile, while Australia’s Jessica Hull set a new Oceanian record with 4:13.68 in second.
