After a season of spills and thrills at the highest level in the Wanda Diamond League, the world's biggest track and field stars delivered on the biggest stage of all at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo this month.
With 15 iconic meetings across four continents, the Wanda Diamond League has long been the stage on which the world's best cut their teeth ahead of the major championships. The 2025 season proved to be no exception, as Diamond League stars once again played a starring role at this year's World Championships.
More than half of this year's Wanda Diamond League champions won a medal in Japan, with no fewer than 14 crowned world champion. US sprint star Noah Lyles confirmed his status as king of the 200m, winning gold in Tokyo just weeks after claiming a record sixth Diamond Trophy in Zurich.
Mondo Duplantis' gold medal jump of 6.30m in the men's pole vault was his third world record of the season, the first having come on home soil at the Diamond League meeting in Stockholm in June. Flying Dutchwoman Femke Bol also continued her dominance of the women's 400m hurdles, defending her world title after another imperious season in the Diamond League.
As well as two World Championship gold medals, Bol can now boast of five Diamond Trophies and an unbeaten streak of 30 consecutive Diamond League races which stretches back to 2020. Tokyo also saw some of the sport's most exciting rising stars claim their first major gold medal after a breakthrough season in the Diamond League.
US star Cordell Tinch stormed to victory in the 110m hurdles, following an impressive run of five Diamond League wins this year. Kenya's Faith Cherotich seized the crown in the women's 3000m steeplechase, kicking past Olympic champion Winfred Yavi just as she had at two Diamond League meetings this year.
French distance star Jimmy Gressier defied the odds again to win gold in the men's 10,000m, having already stunned the world in the 5000m at the Wanda Diamond League Final last month. Australia's Nicola Olyslagers confirmed her rise to power in the women's high jump, scoring a second major final victory over Ukrainian rival Yaroslava Mahuchikh in a matter of weeks.
Other 2025 Diamond League champions who won gold in Tokyo included Kenyan 800m star Emmanuel Wanyonyi, US sprinter Christian Coleman and New Zealand high jumper Hamish Kerr. Diamond League champions also dominated in the women's field disciplines, with gold medallists including Katie Moon in the pole vault, Leyanis Perez-Hernandez in the triple jump, Valarie Allman in the discus and Jessica Schilder in the shot put.
Several other global superstars also won gold after standout seasons in the Diamond League. Kenyan distance stars Faith Kipyegon and Beatrice Chebet both stormed to gold after breaking the 1500m and 5000m world records at the Diamond League meeting in Eugene last July.
Gold medals in the 100m for Jamaica's Oblique Seville and the USA's Melissa Jefferson-Wooden also came as no surprise, after both had lit up the Diamond League stage earlier in the season. Seville twice beat Lyles at Diamond League meetings in London and Lausanne, while Jefferson-Wooden showed her world-beating form with wins in Eugene, Silesia and Brussels.
The world's biggest stars will be back on the Wanda Diamond League stage next season, as they continue to test themselves against the best on their journey to the next World Championships in Beijing in 2027 and the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
