World champions Piotr Małachowski, Christina Schwanitz and Katharina Molitor will be among the leading participants in the men’s and women’s events at the 2016 Doha Diamond League meeting, on Friday 6 May, the opening meeting of the seventh season of the Diamond League organised by the IAAF.
Małachowski will lead the group of athletes who stood on the podium at the 2015 World Championships in the discus throw, the only throwing event on the men’s programme this year. Schwanitz, meanwhile, will top the field in the shot put, while her fellow German Molitor leads the group of participants in the javelin throw.
HE Major General Dahlan Jumaan Al Hamad, chairman of the Qatar and Asian athletics federations and vice-president of the IAAF, noted that the Doha meeting will see plenty of rivalry and excitement among the world’s champions, and said: “We have seen many achievements in the throwing events at the Doha championship in recent years that will remain in the memory. We hope that tradition continues and develops this year, especially thanks to the presence of world champions Piotr Małachowski, Christina Schwanitz and Katharina Molitor, who begin their Diamond League and Olympic seasons here in Doha, against extremely strong rivals”
Małachowski, who also won Olympic silver in 2008, and world silver in 2009 and 2013, is no stranger to Doha, having won in 2012 and 2014, two of the three seasons in which he won the Diamond League trophy in his event. The 32-year-old athlete also won the top prize of the Diamond League circuit in 2010, the tournament’s opening season. With a career-best of 71.84m, Małachowski ranks fifth on the all-time list for the event.
He will face Belgian thrower Philip Milanov and Pole Robert Urbanek, the silver and gold medallists respectively last year. Milanov, 24, is a relatively new arrival on the big stage, with a personal best throw of 66.90m. By contrast, Urbanek, 28, is characterised by great experience and familiarity with major competitions; in 2014 he won bronze at the European Championships, while last year he collected several wins at the European Team Championships and at the Oslo and Zurich Diamond League meetings.
The entry list also includes Sweden’s Daniel Ståhl, who also competed in the final of the 2015 World Championships, Hungary’s Zoltán Kővágó, the 2004 Olympic silver medallist, and Australia’s Benn Harradine, the former Commonwealth champion with a personal best of 68.20m.
On the home front, attention will turn to Qatari thrower Ahmed Mohamed Deeb, the Asian Games bronze medallist.
Schwanitz, meanwhile, enjoyed the best season of her career in 2015, winning the world title and recording five Diamond League victories on her way to winning the trophy in her event, with a season’s best throw of 20.77m – also her personal best. In that same season she recorded four of her farthest-ever throws and five of her best six throws.
In Doha she will face American Michelle Carter, who arrives in the Qatari capital after winning gold at the World Indoor Championships. Carter, the American record-holder at: 20.24m, won bronze at the last outdoor World Championships.
The women’s entry list also includes Hungary’s Anita Márton, who won silver at the World Indoor Championships behind Carter.
Molitor, too, will find herself facing strong competition in her bid to record her first Diamond League victory. Last year, the 32-year-old thrower entered the World Championships without any 
major medal to her name, but raised her level of performance and improved her personal best to 67.69m to snatch an unexpected gold medal.
Among her most important rivals is South Africa’s Sunette Viljoen, the African record-holder at (69.35m), who won bronze at two editions of the World Championships. Also to watch is Slovenia’s Martina Ratej, the national record-holder at: 67.16m, who won the event in Doha two years ago.
The organisers also announced the list of athletes taking part in the pole vault, which may turn out to be the most wide-open event of the championship.
American Sandi Morris, who stood out in particular during the indoor season when she improved her mark to 4.95m to win silver at the World Indoor Championships, will be among the entrants. Also among the participants are the two strong Greeks Nikoleta Kiriakopoulou, who won bronze last year at the World Championships and the 2015 Diamond League trophy, and her teammate Katerina Stefanidi, who won world indoor bronze last year. Kiriakopoulou, whose personal best stands at 4.83m, won in Doha two years ago.
The entry list also includes Germany’s Silke Spiegelburg, a three-time Diamond League trophy winner, and Swiss record-holder Nicole Büchler, who cleared 4.80m to finish fourth at the World Indoor Championships, in addition to China’s Li Ling, the Asian record-holder with a jump of 4.66m.
The organisers also confirmed that Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas, who surprised everyone by winning the triple jump last month at the World Indoor Championships, has been added to the entry list in her event. Spanish sprinter Orlando Ortega, who holds the tenth-fastest time in the history of the 110m hurdles at: 12.94 seconds, has also joined the entry list for that race in Doha.
