by Justin Lagat
The Doha Diamond League will be held on May 10, 2024, and can be seen on Peacock on Friday, May 10, 2024, at 11 AM Chicago (Central time).
Runners to watch out for at the Doha Diamond League meet this Friday.
It is still quite early in the track and field season, as the third Diamond League meet takes place this Friday at the Suheim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha. It is time to establish who to watch out for in the build-up to the Paris Olympics, as some runners will be stepping on the track to compete for the first time this year, while others will clash with their worthy opponents in their special distances.
The women’s 800m event is touted as a potential clash between Kenya’s world champion Mary Moraa and Great Britain’s Jemma Rekkie, the reigning World Indoor silver medalist. Moraa, who is currently ranked number one in the world, has already won eight out of the eight races she has run this year, including the Kip Keino Classic, where she ran 1:57.96 to win it comfortably.
Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma is a clear favorite in the men’s 3,000 m steeplechase. The world record holder with 7:52.11 will be the only sub-8-minute runner on the track. The nearest in their personal best times to Girma are Kenya’s Abraham Kibiwot (8:05.51) and Benjamin Kigen (8:05.12), Ethiopia’s Getnet Wale (8:05.15), and Fernando Carro of Spain (8:05.69).
Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet will compete in the women’s 5000m race, with thirteen Ethiopians in a field of eighteen runners. The reigning world cross-country champion will be doing her first track race of the year—after a successful cross-country season—as she begins her journey to the Paris Olympics. Ethiopia’s bronze medalist from Budapest, Ejgayehu Taye, will be part of the Ethiopian squad to watch out for that, including Medina Eisa and Lemlem Hailu.
Fresh from winning gold at the Bahamas World relays in the men’s 4x400m, Botswana’s duo of world leader Bayapo Ndori (44.10) and Leungo Scotch (44.54) will highlight the men’s 400m. However, the fastest man on the start list is Bahama’s Steven Gardiner, with a personal best time of 43.48, which he ran in 2019 in Doha, but in a different stadium. Another man to watch here will be Muzala Samukonga, who ran a world-leading time of 43.91 last year.
And, if anyone is interested in who was more responsible for the USA’s men’s 4x100m gold medal in the Bahamas, the men’s 200m event features three men from that squad. Kenneth Bednarek, Kyree King, and Courtney Lindsey will be running against each other less than a week after running together in a team with Noah Lyles anchoring them.
In a loaded women’s 1500m race, all eyes will be on Ethiopia’s 18-year-old Birke Haylom, who ran 3:53.22 at the Xiamen Diamond League. It could be an Ethiopian affair with Diribe Welteji (3:53.93), Hirut Meshesha (3:54.87), Freweyni Hailu (3:55.68) and Worknesh Melese (3:57.00) on the start line. However, Kenya’s Nelly Chepchirchir, with a personal best time of 3:56.72, could pull out a surprise.
Kenya’s 25-year-old Brian Komen is a new emerging 1500m star who finished second to the 19-year-old Reynold Cheruiyot at the Kip Keino Classic continental tour event last month in Nairobi. The two, with the fastest seasonal best times on the start list, will be worth watching out for as they continue their rivalry and threaten to topple the current status quo in the men’s 1500m senior category. There will be three sub-3:30 runners in the race. They are racing against Timothy Cheruiyot (3:28.28), Abel Kipsang (3:29.11), and Narve Gilje Nordas (3:29.47).
