Diamond League 2026 - everything you need to know as series begins

TL;DR

The Diamond League 2026 kicks off in China with stars like Amy Hunt, Armand Duplantis, and Faith Kipyegon. The season features 15 events, concluding with a final in Brussels in September.

Key points

Diamond League 2026 begins in China
Event postponed from May to June
15 stops on the Diamond League circuit
Final to be held in Brussels in September
Key athletes include Amy Hunt and Armand Duplantis

Amy HuntArmand DuplantisFaith KipyegonShericka Jackson

Great Britain's world 200m silver medallist Amy Hunt joins global stars Armand Duplantis and Faith Kipyegon at the first Diamond League event of the season in China - live on the BBC.

The Diamond League - athletics' premier one-day meeting series - was due to begin in Doha on 8 May, but that event was postponed until June amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

There are 15 stops on the Diamond League circuit, culminating in a two-day final in Brussels in September, which this year will precede the inaugural season-ending World Athletics Ultimate Championship.

Hunt, 24, who achieved her first individual global podium in Tokyo last year, will contest a quality women's 200m which also features Jamaica's Shericka Jackson and American Sha'Carri Richardson.

Britain's 2023 world 800m medallist Ben Pattison, discus thrower Lawrence Okoye, and 5,000m runners Melissa Courtney-Bryant and Revee Walcott-Nolan are also in action.

Kenyan great Kipyegon, Swedish pole vault star Duplantis and Botswanan sprinter Letsile Tebogo headline the Shanghai/Keqiao event, live on BBC Two from 12:00 BST on Saturday.

'I don't like that people still reference Budapest' - Pattison

Ben Pattison smiles before competing at the World Athletics Championships

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption,

Ben Pattison's reduced his 800m personal best to one minute 42.27 seconds in 2024 - second to only Sebastian Coe (1:41.73) among British athletes

Back to full fitness after an uninterrupted winter, Pattison, the second-fastest British 800m runner in history, is desperate to clinch more major silverware on home soil this summer.

The 24-year-old announced himself on the global stage by claiming a surprise 800m bronze in his first world final in Budapest in 2023, and moved behind only Sebastian Coe on the British all-time list the following season.

But, after illness disrupted his Olympic preparations and his 2025 plans were ruined by a stress fracture, Pattison is targeting European and Commonwealth medals in Birmingham and Glasgow respectively.

Speaking to BBC Sport before competing in China, Pattison said: "The plan is to do both and my goal is to get two medals. It's been three years now since I've got a medal at a major championship, so I feel like it's been far too long.

"I was asked at the world indoors: 'Do you feel like you need to get a medal again?' And I was thinking, hang on, I'm still quite young - but it does almost feel like that.