FOR DUO
superb, dipping under 10 seconds five times and winning his country’s 100m title ahead of Wayde van Niekerk.
The women’s 200m will be contested by the gold and silver medallists from Rio — Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson and Dafne Schippers from the Netherlands.
Last year’s bronze medallist in Rio, Tori Bowie from the US, is not in Doha but has already made her presence felt by clocking the year’s fastest time so far, 22.09s.
In recent years in the Doha leg of the Diamond League, some of the best performances have come in the middle and long-distance races. This year could prove the same.
All three female 800m finalists from Rio — South Africa’s Caster Semenya, Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba and Kenya’s Margaret Wambui — will race today.
They will be joined by Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba, a former 1500m world-record holder who has chosen an extremely tough field in which to make her 800m debut.
In the 3000m steeplechase, Kenyan-born Bahraini runner Ruth Jebet, who won gold in Rio, will make her season debut. She is also the current world record holder with a time of 8:52.78s.
Off the track, there’s another clash of Olympic gold and silver medallists from Rio, when Greece’s Ekaterini Stefanidi takes on America’s Sandi Morris in the pole vault.
Today’s meeting marks the beginning of the eighth season of the Diamond League.
As with many other athletics events, it comes at a time of controversy within the sport.
The build-up has been overshadowed by a controversial European Athletics’ proposal, which could see all world records set before 2005 written off as the sport tries to set a clean slate in its fight against doping. AFP