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The pinnacle of the 2025 track and field season is less than a month away, with the World Athletics Championships kicking off Sept. 13 in Tokyo. But, before the planet’s top runners, jumpers and throwers gather in Japan, many of them will battle for a Diamond League championship over the next 10 days in Europe.
If you need a refresher, the Diamond League is track and field’s premier pro tour. From April through late summer, athletes accumulate points based on their results in any of the 14 regular-season meets they attend, and the top point-getters in each discipline qualify for the Final. Then, the points go out the window in favour of a winner-take-all showdown to crown the Diamond League champion. Each winner gets a fancy trophy, a big cash prize and a wild-card entry for the world championships.
There are two regular-season stops remaining before this year’s Final on Aug. 27 and 28 in Zurich. It will feature the top six in the season-long standings for each field event, the top eight in the track races ranging from 100m to 800m, and the top 10 for the 1,500m and longer, along with one wild card in each event. If there’s a tie in points, the spot goes to the athletes with the best performance this season.
A total of $2.24 million US in prize money is up for grabs at the Final. $50,000 will go to the winners of the men’s and women’s 100m, men’s 1,500m, women’s 3,000m, women’s 100m hurdles, men’s 400m hurdles, men’s pole vault and women’s long jump, while all of the other champions get $30,000 apiece.
At last year’s Final in Brussels, Canadian shot putter Sarah Mitton bounced back from her disappointing 12th-place finish at the Paris Olympics, where she was the gold-medal favourite, to win her first Diamond League title. She became the fourth Canadian to hoist a Diamond Trophy, joining 100m hurdler Priscilla Lopes-Schliep (2010), shot putter Dylan Armstrong (2011) and sprinter Andre De Grasse, who won the men’s 200m title in 2023.
Two other Canadians made the Final last year. 800m runner Marco Arop and pole vaulter Alysha Newman each finished third after taking silver and bronze, respectively, at the Paris Olympics.
Arop on the bubble
Heading into the final two regular-season meets — happening Wednesday in Lausanne, Switzerland and Friday in Brussels — Mitton is the only Canadian who has clinched a spot in the Final. The defending women’s shot put champion ranks third in the standings, behind back-to-back world champion Chase Jackson of the United States and Dutchwoman Jessica Schilder, who took silver behind Mitton at this year’s indoor world championships.
Arop, the reigning world champ in the men’s 800m, ranks 10th after devoting the early part of his season to the fledgling Grand Slam Track tour, which shut down early and is still struggling to pay its athletes what they’re owed. He needs at least three points to climb into the top eight for an automatic berth in the Final. Athletes are awarded 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 or 1 point for finishing first to eighth, respectively. So, the Canadian is looking for a strong result when he lines up for the final men’s 800m of the regular season on Wednesday in Lausanne.
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Arop will be running against his Kenyan rival Emmanuel Wanyonyi, who nipped Arop for the Olympic gold in Paris and is now eyeing his third straight Diamond League title. Wanyonyi has won fourth races in a row, including a pair of victories against Arop last month in London and Monaco.
No other Canadians are slated to compete in Lausanne, but another interesting regular-season finale is on tap there in the men’s 100m. Olympic champion Noah Lyles ranks seventh as he prepares to face Diamond League leader Akani Simbine of South Africa, who has already qualified for the Final along with Olympic silver medallist Kishane Thompson of Jamaica. However, Thompson pulled out of the remainder of the Diamond League season (including the Final) on Monday to rest an ailing shin after defeating Lyles on Saturday in Poland in their first meeting since their photo finish at the Paris Olympics.
You can watch the Lausanne meet live Wednesday from 2-4 p.m. ET on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem. The men’s 800m goes at 3:23 p.m. ET and the men’s 100 at 3:40 p.m. ET.
Mitton set for final tuneup
Canada’s Aaron Brown ranks eighth in the men’s 200m standings — just enough to make the Final at the moment. De Grasse (15th in the 200m) and Christopher Morales Williams (15th in the 400m) are outside the cutline. Same on the women’s side for Audrey Leduc (20th in the 200m) and Savannah Sutherland, who’s 15th in the 400m hurdles after finishing sixth in her Diamond League debut this past weekend in Poland. Newman hasn’t competed since May, when she finished eighth and 10th in a pair of Diamond League events.
Reigning Olympic and world hammer throw champions Camryn Rogers and Ethan Katzberg are both having excellent years, with Rogers winning nine of her 10 starts and Katzberg taking six of seven before suffering back-to-back defeats to Olympic silver medallist Bence Halasz last week. However, while some Diamond League meets include the hammer throw, it’s not an official tour event, so there are no standings and it won’t be part of the Final.
The program for Friday’s regular-season finale in Brussels includes the men’s 200m and 400m, and the women’s 400m hurdles, pole vault and shot put. But Mitton is the only Canadian who chose to enter. She’ll face both Jackson and Schilder, which will be a good test ahead of the Final and the world championships.
The Brussels organizers are advertising the women’s 100m as their marquee event, with American breakout star Melissa Jefferson-Wooden slated to face reigning world champion Sha’Carri Richardson of the U.S. and former Olympic and world champ Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica. 2024 Olympic gold medallist Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia is presumably not competing. She leads the Diamond League standings and has secured a spot in the Final along with Ivory Coast’s Marie Josée Ta Lou-Smith.
You can watch the Brussels meet live Friday from 2-4 p.m. ET on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem.