As they prepare to celebrate the New Year, Chinese athletics fans can already start looking forward to another star-studded line-up at the Xiamen Diamond League meeting in 2026.
US stars Masai Russell, Cordell Tinch and Joe Kovacs have all confirmed their attendance at the Red Star Macalline Xiamen Meeting on May 23.
Olympic 100m champion Russell made her Diamond League debut in Xiamen in 2024, just months before racing to gold at Paris 2024.
She returns to the Egret Stadium as part of a Chinese double-bill this year, having already confirmed her attendance at the Shanghai/Keqiao meeting a week earlier.
World 110m hurdles champion Tinch also has fond memories of Xiamen, where he stormed to a world lead of 13.07 at the Diamond League season opener last year.
That win kickstarted a lifechanging campaign for Tinch, who went to win both the Diamond League and world titles.
Reigning series shot put champion Kovacs will make his first Diamond League appearance in China for ten years when he enters the ring in Xiamen.
Yet the veteran American star also has previous in China, having won his first world title in Beijing back in 2015.
Xiamen is the third leg of the 2026 Wanda Diamond League, which begins in Doha on May 8 and ends at 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.
