IAAF Diamond League - Doha and Shanghai set to provide thrilling start

There are just three weeks to go to the start of the 2015 IAAF Diamond League, with meetings in Doha and Shanghai getting the ball rolling and taking place just two days apart on 15 and 17 May respectively.

The start of this year’s series has a strong Asian emphasis, with the opening two meetings taking place on opposite sides of that continent, a theme that will continue all the way to the end of the summer with the focal point of the year being the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015.

However, both meetings have signed up a plethora of the sport’s top performers from around the world to continue giving the IAAF Diamond League a truly global appeal.

World Athlete of the Year Renaud Lavillenie will start his campaign for his sixth successive Diamond Race crown in Doha while Shanghai can boast of high jump star Mutaz Essa Barshim.

The Doha meeting has got as its target a wholesale revision of its meeting records while Shanghai should see an outstanding duel over one lap of the track between LaShawn Merritt and Kirani James .

Speed will be a virtue in Shanghai with 2013 IAAF World Athlete of the Year Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce going to her blocks in the Chinese city but distance running in Doha will be to the fore and double Olympic, world and European champion Mo Farah will run over 3000m in the Qatari capital and the Briton could be looking to add the European 3000m record to his impressive list of accolades.

The IAAF Diamond League meetings in Doha and Shanghai will also be the first two meetings in the 2015 edition of the popular Fantasy Diamond Race.

IAAF

2015 IAAF Diamond League calendarDoha, QAT – 15 May
Shanghai, CHN – 17 May
Eugene, USA – 30 May
Rome, ITA – 4 June
Birmingham, GBR – 7 June
Oslo, NOR – 11 June
New York, USA – 13 June
Paris, FRA – 4 July
Lausanne, SUI – 9 July
Monaco, MON – 17 July
London, GBR – 24-25 July
Stockholm, SWE – 30 July
Zurich, SUI – 3 September
Brussels, BEL – 11 September