Rome's Pietro Mennea Golden Gala will host the first European leg of the 2025 Wanda Diamond League this Friday, with women's 5000m world record holder Gudaf Tsegay among the headliners.
Yet Tsegay is not the only world record breaker in Diamond League action over the coming weeks, as the world's biggest stars continue to plot their route to the series final in Zurich. For both Yaroslava Mahuchikh (pic) and Jessica Hull, the next few weeks will see an emotional return to the site of their greatest triumph.
Ukrainian high jump star Mahuchikh will line up at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Paris a year after she broke the world record there with 2.10m last season. Australia's Hull, meanwhile, will race the 1000m at Herculis EBS Monaco in July, a year after she set a sensational 2000m world record at the same meeting in 2024.
Two years after she broke the world record with a stunning 14:00.21 at the Diamond League Final in Eugene, Gudaf Tsegay is now battling to defend her status as the fastest woman ever. The Ethiopian goes up against Kenyan rival Beatrice Chebet in Rome, who shot to the top of the world rankings with the Olympic and Diamond League titles and 10,000m world record last season.
Chebet beat Tsegay at the season opener in Xiamen and has made no secret of her desire to break the Ethiopian's record sooner rather than later. Chebet is not the only long distance star chasing the world record. In the men's 5000m, too, there are several athletes hoping to become the fastest ever.
Ethiopian stars Yomif Kejelcha, Berihu Aregawi, Telahun Bekele and Hagos Gebrhiwet will all be in action in Oslo on June 12, as they continue their quest to beat Joshua Cheptegei's 12:35.36, set at the Diamond League in Monaco in 2020. The Wanda Diamond League is the elite one-day meeting series in global athletics.
It comprises 15 of the most prestigious events in global track and field. Athletes compete for points at the 14 series meetings in a bid to qualify for the two-day Wanda Diamond League Final, which will be held in Zurich on 27th and 28th August 2025.
As the only series which consistently unites the world's best across both track and field disciplines, this year's Diamond League also provides the perfect chance for athletes to cut their teeth ahead of the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September.