Based in Europe, operates more or less like Formula 1: competitors at each stop accumulate points and at the end of the season, a champion is crowned in each event. A whole lot of cash and prestige is on the line.
This Year鈥檚 Lineup
This year鈥檚 competition will be led by three local heroes:
Guangdong鈥檚 Su Bingtian, the fastest man in Chinese history, will be racing in the men鈥檚 100m.
The pride of Hebei, women鈥檚 shot putter Gong Lijiao, defending champion in the Shanghai event and former Olympic medalist and world champion.
Henan鈥檚 Lu Huihui, who won the women鈥檚 javelin in the Diamond League鈥檚 first match of the season in Doha, Qatar a week ago.
They鈥檒l be joining a stellar international field led by Jamaican Omar McLeod, who won gold at Rio in the men鈥檚 110m hurdles. McLeod will tee it up in both the 110m and 400m hurdles.
Perhaps the most intensely contested event of the meet will be the men鈥檚 1500m, where training partners and Kenyan nationals Elijah Manangoi and Timothy Cheruiyot will go after each other. In Doha, Manangoi won by less than two-tenths of a second 鈥� that鈥檚 an advantage of about 1/100 of a cm for every meter they raced 鈥� but Cheruiyot is ranked number one in the world.
Events at the Meet
Events included at the Shanghai meet:
Men
100m, 200m, 400m, 5000m, 110m hurdles, 400m hurdles, high jump, long jump, javelin
Women
100m, 400m, 1500m, 3000m steeplechase, pole vault, shot put, javelin
The Empty Space
Unfortunately, the Shanghai meet will be marked as much by who鈥檚 not here as who is here.
If you鈥檝e lost the plot of the sport since the Rio Olympics in 2016, I鈥檝e got some bad news for you: Usain Bolt retired in 2017 and was last seen trying his hand at soccer in Australia.
(American Christian Coleman topped the Diamond League in the men鈥檚 100m last year and will be in Shanghai.)
The Semenya Controversy
On a much more difficult note, Shanghai unexpectedly finds itself as ground zero for one of the most discouraging controversies in all of sport. South African women鈥檚 800m specialist Caster Semenya, South Africa鈥檚 flag bearer at the 2012 Olympics, will not be in Shanghai. She lost her appeal to the court of arbitration for sport and won鈥檛 be allowed to compete in the Diamond League again until she completes a drug regimen to artificially lower the natural amount of testosterone in her body.
Semenya鈥檚 last meet was in Doha, where she won the 800m easily. She鈥檚 also the three-time defending champion in Shanghai.
She鈥檚 apparently too male for the IAAF, or perhaps too lesbian 鈥� she鈥檚 married to a woman 鈥� or perhaps too butch. Who knows? The court ruling, bizarrely, only covers middle distance running events, so it is possible Semenya could change her career emphasis and compete in longer events. However, this past Thursday, she tweeted, 鈥淜nowing when to walk away is wisdom. Being able to is courage. Walking away with your head held high is dignity.鈥�
The Track and Stadium
The newly installed track at Shanghai Stadium gets its first test at this event. New tracks often run fast, but mitigating that is the weather forecast, which calls for periods of rain the afternoon of the meet and the three days before that.
Tickets and Logistics
Shanghai SIPG FC, which shares the stadium with the Diamond League, has been limited for the last few months to about 20,000 attendees in the 60,000-seat stadium. Unlike SIPG, the Diamond League is being allowed to sell tickets in the upper deck on the eastern side of the stadium 鈥� a bargain at 50rmb 鈥� so it looks like around 25,000 to 30,000 will be allowed to attend this one. Tickets run from 50-680rmb (available until Thursday) or available at the stadium box office until they run out. The best seats are already sold out. As always, beware of touts outside the stadium, who may not be totally, um, legal.
The stadium is easily accessible by Metro, Line 1 (Shanghai Indoor Stadium), Line 4 (Shanghai Stadium) and Line 11 (Shanghai Swimming Center).
will run from about 6-9 pm. More information is available on the league鈥檚 excellent web site.
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