Athletics fans all over the world are bracing up for this year’s Doha 2013 Diamond League starting on May 10. This year event will feature a stellar line up, after many Olympic and World Champions have signed up to the meeting’s long entry list.
Ten of the forty- four reigning Olympic champions eligible to compete will be in Doha (Qatar) for the opening major event of the 2013 outdoor athletics season.
David Rudisha of Kenya leads a pack of four male London 2012 winners; others includes Tripple Jump wonder- kid Christian Taylor from USA (on his first ever visit to Doha); two times Olympic Champion in the Shot Put, Tomasz Majewski from Poland; as well as Nesta Carter, a member of the great Jamaican 4×100m squad which smashed the World Record with a time of 36.84. London’s golden quintet is rounded off by surprise Javelin winner, Keshorn Walcott from Trinidad and Tobago. Walcott was still junior when he upset the event’s top names to earn unexpected Olympic title for a nation mainly recognised for its world class sprinters.
In the women events, IAAF female Athlete of the Year 2012, Allyson Felix returns in Doha to aim for an 11th win in Qatar’s international meeting. The American sprinter who emerged victorious in London in the 200m, the 4×100m and the 4×400m enters the 400m in Doha, an event she skipped in London. Challenging Felix in the 200m is the Jamaican sprinter Shelly- Ann Fraser- Pryce who defied the odds to defend her 100m Olympic title against an unbelievable strong field. Fraser- Pryce will be traveling to Doha for the second time in her career, as does another American, Francena McCorory, who will run the 400m.
Long jumper Brittney Reese aims to defend her unbeaten run in Qatar soil, after two clear victories in as many appearances indoor and outdoor. Sandra Perkovic, the 22- year- old Discuss thrower from Croatia looks to 2013 to add the world senior title to her tally, after capturing an Olympic gold in 2012, two European titles (2010, 2012) and one European junior crown in 2009.
Nesta Carter (4×100m), David Rudisha (800m), Kenya’s Asbel Kiprop (1500m), USA’s 400m hurdlers Bershawn Jackson and Angelo Taylor (4×400m), High Jumper Jeese Williams, Triple Jumper Christian Taylor and Germany’s Matthias De Zordo (Javelin) will complete the list of eight reigning World Champions ready to slug it out in Doha.
Allyson Felix, winner in both relays with the USA quartets, is one of the four current female World Champions who will perform live at Qatar Sports Club on May 10. Others are Francena McCorory (4×400m), Botswana’s Amantle Montosho (400m) and Brittney Reese (Long Jump)
Moreover, the Doha 2013 lineup includes six athletes who triumphed at the Istanbul 2011 World Indoor Championships. These are US sprinter Justlin Gatlin (60m- will run the 100m in Doha), Morocco’s Abdelaati Aguider (1500m), USA’a Ryan Whiting (Shot Put), Britain’s Christine Ohuruogu (4×400m- registered for the 400m in Doha), Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba (1500m) and Brittney Reese (Long Jump).
