This Saturday, some of the biggest stars in global track and field head to Shanghai/Keqiao to begin their 2026 Wanda Diamond League campaigns. Here are five things to look out for at the season opener in China.
Diamond Duplantis
The new season will begin with the men’s pole vault, with Swedish superstar Mondo Duplantis once again taking centre stage. The reigning Olympic and world champion is chasing a sixth successive Diamond League title in 2026, as he closes in on Renaud Lavillenie and Christian Taylor’s overall record of seven. The 27-year-old is already in record-breaking form this year, having set a new world record for the 15th time with 6.31m in Uppsala in March. He also has form in China, having opened his Diamond League season with a world record in Xiamen two years ago.
Hurdles head-to-head
Few events have been as competitive in recent years as the women’s 100m hurdles, which has seen ten different athletes win a Diamond League meeting in the past two seasons. Many of those will be in action in Keqiao, in a race which unites seven of the top ten in the world rankings. They include world champion Ditaji Kambundji, Olympic champion and Diamond League record holder Masai Russell, world record holder and three-time Diamond League champion Tobi Amusan and reigning Diamond League champion Ackera Nugent. Quite the field, in other words.
Miller-Uibo returns
With 22 Diamond League wins and four series titles under her belt, Shaunae Miller-Uibo is one of the most successful athletes in Diamond League history. In Keqiao, the Bahamian sprint star will make her first appearance in the series in three years as she continues her much-anticipated comeback on the global stage. Miller-Uibo’s last Diamond League race came in Zurich in 2023, when she won the 400m just months after giving birth to her first child. She has since struggled with injury, but has made a promising start to this outdoor season with back-to-back 200m wins in Florida last month. The 32-year-old returns to the 200m on Saturday, when she takes on a star-studded field that includes Shericka Jackson, Sha’Carri Richardson, Anavia Battle and Amy Hunt.
Kick-off for Kipyegon
The women’s 5000m may not be a Diamond Discipline this weekend, but it will be worth watching nonetheless as Kenyan distance superstar Faith Kipyegon kicks off her outdoor season in Keqiao. Something special is always possible when Kipyegon sets foot on a Diamond League track, with the Kenyan having broken five world records in the past three Diamond League seasons alone. After she narrowly missed out on the 1000m world record at last year’s season opener in Xiamen, she will be out to deliver more fireworks in Keqiao this time around.
Warholm eyeing world best?
Another athlete who began last year with a bang was 400m hurdles world record holder Karsten Warholm, who stormed to a 300m hurdles world best in Xiamen. That proved to be a sign of things to come, as the Norwegian superstar clocked an even faster time over the distance in Oslo a few weeks later before going on to win his first Diamond League title since 2021. He returns to action in the 300m hurdles in Keqiao, where he will be hoping to once again improve on his own world best against the likes of Alison Dos Santos, Kyron McMaster and Trevor Bassitt.
