Six of the best for Fraser-Pryce?
Jamaican legend Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was one of the standout performers in the Wanda Diamond League last season, showing that age and motherhood are no barrier as she rampaged to four meeting records en route to her first Diamond Trophy since 2015.
The 36-year-old now has five Diamond League titles to her name, putting her just one behind New Zealand shot putter Valerie Adams and Croatian discus thrower Sandra Perkovic, who are currently the most successful women in the series’ history with six titles each. Fraser-Pryce is far from done, however, and few would bet against her equalling that record this year. Just this week, she told NBC Sports that she has her sights set on both the Olympic Games in 2024 and a potential 100m world record.
Ealey eyes perfection
There was no getting past Chase Ealey last season, with the US star winning all five legs of the Wanda Diamond League in the women’s shot put to claim her first Diamond Trophy and join an elite group of 10 athletes who have pulled off a perfect Diamond League season in their chosen discipline. Of those 10, none have managed to repeat the feat in successive seasons and only Sandra Perkovic has managed to do it more than once.
Ealey has already cleared the 20-metre mark once this season in New York and she will be odds-on favourite for the Diamond Trophy. But can she once again make it five victories out of five and become the first athlete ever to complete back-to-back perfect seasons?
Bol at the double?
In the history of the Wanda Diamond League, there are several athletes who have enjoyed success – even racked up titles – in more than one discipline. Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Allyson Felix and Elaine Thompson-Herah have all excelled in at least two sprinting disciplines, while Caterine Ibargüen famously won the triple jump and long jump titles within two days of one another in 2018. Yet as it stands, no female athlete has ever held the 400m and 400m hurdles titles at the same time. That could change this year, as two-time 400m hurdles champion Femke Bol slowly strengthens her claim to being one of the best 400m flat performers in the world.
The Dutchwoman has already broken a world indoor record with 49.26m this year and she picked up her first 400m win on the circuit last season. She remains clear favourite to defend her 400m hurdles title this year, and while her outdoor best of 49.44 on the flat is still a little way off Miller-Uibo’s Diamond League record, Bol has been improving so rapidly in recent years that it seems plausible she could end the season as series record holder and Diamond Trophy winner in both one-lap disciplines.
Mahuchikh on course for title number two
Yaroslava Mahuchikh finally got her hands on her first Diamond Trophy last season, after coming within a whisker of glory in an epic battle wiht Mariya Lasitskene a year before. The Ukrainian, who defended her European indoor title in Istanbul last weekend, will once again be the woman to beat in the women’s high jump in 2023 as she aims to become the first Ukrainian athlete ever to win a second Diamond League title.
Her fellow high jumpers Andriy Protsenko and Bogdan Bondarenko and triple jumper Olga Saladukha each have one Diamond Trophy, but Mahuchikh is Ukraine’s best chance in years of producing a serial Diamond League champion.
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