Doha Diamond League preview: 5 disciplines to watch

A hectic midsummer weekend in athletics awaits, and things will start off on Friday in Qatar with the Doha Diamond League event.

The Middle Eastern event was supposed to be the season opener, but it was moved due to secureity concerns. Sadly the track races haven't got the strongest showings in terms of top athletes, but these are made up for by the impressive rosters competing in the field events.



This year's Diamond League season is made up of 15 events across the globe, with the winner's of each discipline finally decided with the Diamond League finals in Brussels on the 28th of August. In addition to Doha, the remaining stops for the athletes this season are Paris, Eugene, Monaco, London, Lausanne and Silesia.

The rules are familiar from years gone by. Every single discipline awards points in relation to your placement in the event, and finally the 6 best athletes of each discipline make it to the two-day finals event at the end of August.

Doha's event starts at 15:40 BST/UTC+1 with the women's triple jump, while the zenith of the night is the men's 3000m steeplechase. Read on for Etusuora's five full previews of the Doha Diamond League's most interesting disciplines this year.

Sri Lanka's javelin star looking to continue his winning streak

The Doha crowd will get to witness an especially impressive javelin throw competition, as all the medalists from last year's World Championships are in attendance. In addition to the trio, the Qataris will also get to witness Neeraj Chopra and this season's sensation Tharanga Pathirage.

Sri Lanka's pride Tharanga leapt onto front pages across the globe with his Rome Diamond League winning throw of over 92 meters, and he's kept his form up going from win to win. Chopra on the other hand is a complete mystery, as Doha is his very first competition of the season.

Out of Tokyo's WC-medal winners Anderson Peters from Grenada has been the strongest, going beyond 86 meters. Surprise medal winner Curtis Thompson has also continued to impress, with his season's best being a respectable 85,33. Keshorn Walcott on the other hand has flattered to deceive as the reigning champion, but he always has potential to go 90 meters and beyond.

Which World Championships medalist will leap longest?

Another notable field event in Doha will be the men's triple jump, which like the javelin features all the medal winners from last summer's World Championships. Tokyo's Portuguese winner Pedro Picardo and silver medalist Andrea Dallavalle from Italy are both opening their seasons here, so it's hard to say anything about their form as of now.

The bronze medalist Lazaro Martinez from Cuba on the other hand has shown some great form, going just 20 centimeters away from his record this season. In terms of the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham Melvin Raffin from France is also an interesting name with potential to go around 17,70. His junior-level success has so far still eluded him though at the adult level.

Zapletalova yet again favourite in the 400m hurdles

The women's 400m hurdles has a new queen, and her name is Emma Zapletalova. The Slovakian has made a rapid rise to the elite of her discipline, showing invincible form while lowering her personal best down to 52,58.

Zapletalova is the sole favourite for the gold in Birmingham's European Championships, as her nearest challenger in the rankings is miles away. That title belongs to Norway's Amalie Iuel at the moment, but her season's best is over 1,5 seconds behind the Slovakian.

In Doha there will luckily more than just Europeans to challenge Zapletalova in the form of Jamaica's Rushell Clayton and Panama's Gianna Woodruff. Both have ran times close to 53 seconds this season, so things could get close!

Will Karalis return to form and go over 6 meters again?

Greek pole vaulter Emmanouil Karalis has been competing at a hectic pace during the start of the season, with five competitions already behind him. In Finland's Turku Karalis cleared 600 to win, but since then he's been forced to settle for more average results. At the Bislett in Oslo he only managed 562, while in Ostrava he took victory by going over 582.

There are five athletes in Doha who have cleared 6 meters this season, so there's plenty of potential for a banging competition. If the conditions continue to be favourable, we can expect season's bests from at least Norway's Sondre Guttormsen and John Ernest Obiena from the Philippines.

Paulino gunning for under 50 seconds

On the running track in Doha, all eyes will be fixed on Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic. She set the world alight last season at the World Championships in Tokyo, going under 48 seconds in a memorable 400m final.

Her pace so far this season hasn't quite been up to par, but she'll be gunning for a finish at least below 50 seconds. The Dominican has been doing some interesting preparation during the off-season, running her 800m record in March with a time of 2:04,79.

Behind Paulino the field is tight, with Cuba's Roxana Gomez, Poland's Natalia Bukowiecka and Egypt's Bassant Hemida most likely to be the others vying for the top spots in the women's 400 meters.