Twelve meetings, three continents and a whole lot of records: the Wanda Diamond League returned with a bang in 2021. We’ve crunched the numbers on a memorable season.
Newbies and veterans
The season began in Gateshead on May 23 and ended in Zurich a little less than four months later. In that time, 893 athletes from 88 countries had competed, with 466 male and 427 female competitors.
No fewer than 134 athletes from 42 different countries managed to win at a Wanda Diamond League meeting this year. Some, like rising US star Trayvon Bromell, claimed their first ever victory on the circuit, while more seasoned competitors also showed their class. For discus legend and six-time title winner Sandra Perkovic, victory in Paris in August was an astonishing 44th triumph in athletics’ premier one-day series.
There were 301 athletes who managed to get on a Diamond League podium this year, with 157 men and 144 women notching up at least one top-three finish during the season.
22 new champions
After the coronavirus pandemic forced a truncated season in 2020, this year also saw a return to full competition format, with 32 champions crowned once again. The champions came from 17 different continents, with Burundi and Namibia among the countries celebrating their first ever title winner.
Athletes like Karsten Warholm and Mariya Lasitskene defended their 2019 titles, but they were among a select elite as the majority of athletes won the title for the first time. From Kenneth Bednarek to Anzhelika Sidorova, a total of 22 athletes picked up their first Diamond Trophy in 2021.
Records galore
As well as nine new Diamond League records, there were also 17 world leads and a veritable avalanche of national and area records set on the circuit this season.
Karsten Warholm joined the likes of Sifan Hassan, Genzebe Dibaba and Aries Merritt on the select list of Diamond League world record breakers with his barnstorming run in Oslo, and there were 13 area records in the course of the year. Jakob Ingebrigtsen started the trend with a European record in the 5000m in Florence, while Tobi Amusan and Christine Mboma both broke African records on their way to the title in the Final in Zurich.
There were also 47 national records, including Femke Bol’s 400m hurdle Diamond League record in Stockholm and Faith Kipyegon’s jaw-dropping 1500m Kenyan record in Monaco.