PARIS.- With the diamond league in Shanghai/Keqiao and the Grand Slam Track in Miamithe stars of athletics will be scattered between these two meetings in two points in the world, organized by two competition circuits, with numerous distance duels this weekend on the track.
In Florida, the Grand Slam tries to take another step in its innovative bet, with an unpublished format for athletics that only includes races and with great economic premiums.
In Keqiao, where the Shanghai meeting, the traditional Diamond League proposes on Saturday its second stop of the season has been transferred this year and especially has the stars of the competitions to demonstrate the advantages of its circuit.
On the tracks, the two parallel competitions will serve as important duels in the distance. For example, in the 400 meters, with the American Olympic champion Quincy Hall – who resigned to participate in Grand Slam – will be the favorite of the Tour of Track in Keqiao, despite not having run from his gold medal won last August in Paris 2024.
His companions on the podium of the France stadium, the British Matthew Hudson-Smith and the Zambiano Muzala Samukonga, will be on the other hand in Miami, where they dispute the 200 m on Friday and 400 meters on Saturday.
A similar duel in the fences, with the 400 -meter world plusmarchist Karsten Warholm in the Diamond League and with its Brazilian rival Alison Dos Santos in the Grand Slam Track.
Kishane Thompson’s return
As a consequence of the competition between these two athletics circuits, some of the races in Shanghai accuse numerous absences: in the 200 female meters there will only be an Olympic finalist, the Irish Jessika Gbai (8th in Paris), while the American Olympic champion Gabby Thomas will be in Miami with other heavy weights of the distance.
The same goes for the 5,000 male meters, without great names in China, but with the Keniano Ronald Kweomi and the American Grant Fisher, both Olympic medalists, in Florida.
In the 110 meters fences, the Olympic champion Grant Hollowey is low in Shanghai. In the 100 meters fences, the worldwide plusmarchist Tobi Amusan will be in China, but the three Olympic medalists Masai Russell, Cyréna Samba-Mayela and Jasmine Camacho-Quinn will be in Miami.
In spite of everything, the Chinese meeting proposes an attractive career in the 100 meters, with the 200 m Letsile Tebogo champion and the Olympic runner -up of the 100 m Kishane Thompson, for whom the meeting will be his return to the outdoor.
Duplantis and Mahuchikh in China
The competitions, which do not enter the Grand Slam Track program, concentrated exclusively on the races, will ensure the show in Shanghai/Keqiao.
In La Garrocha, the Swedish superstar Mondo Duplantis should improve its performance last week in Xiamen (China). At the beginning of the outdoor season, the worldwide plusmarchist (6.27 m) was formed with a 5.92 m victory, before failing three times at 6.01 m.
“The idea for Saturday is to continue winning and jump as high as possible,” summed up at a press conference on Friday. “I feel fit and it will be hot, I think I can take advantage of that.”
In the height jump, the Ukrainian Yaroslava Mahuchikh will try, for its part, to improve its brand in Xiamen, where it crossed 1.97 m.
Plusmarchist of the discipline (2.10 m) and Olympic gold in Paris 2024, Mahuchikh has as its main objective this year “jump even higher to beat (its) world record.”
