2023 was a season in which the Wanda Diamond League history books were rewritten time and time again. A grand total of 19 series records were set on athletics' premier one-day circuit this year, including 13 Diamond League records set in Diamond Disciplines.
World record breakers
The first Diamond League record of the year came in the form of a world record, with Kenya's Faith Kipyegon roaring to 3:49.11 in the women's 1500m in Florence in early June. It was the first of seven world records on the circuit in 2023, and the first of three for Kipyegon, who would go on to break both the 5000m and mile marks in Paris and Monaco respectively. Ethiopia's Lamecha Girma also set a new world and Diamond League record of 7:52.11 in the men's steeplechase in Paris, while Jakob Ingebrigtsen grabbed his first ever outdoor world record with 4:43.13 in the 2000m in Brussels later in the season. Perhaps the most impressive records of all came at the Wanda Diamond League Final in Eugene, where Mondo Duplantis cleared 6.23m to defend his pole vault title and Gudaf Tsegay smashed Kipyegon's 5000m record with an incredible 14:00.21.
Hurdle heroes
No discipline saw more Diamond League records in 2023 than the 400m hurdles, with a grand total of four series records broken over the course of the season. Norway's Karsten Warholm was first to deliver, racing to a superb 46.51 in front of his home crowd in Oslo in June. The time was not quite as fast as his current world record of 45.94, but it was still faster than the world record Warholm had set at the same meeting two years earlier. The Norwegian went even faster with 46.51 in Monaco a few weeks later, but he ended the season as neither Diamond League champion nor Diamond League record holder after US rival Rai Benjamin stormed to a title-winning 46.39 in Eugene. In the women's event, it was once again Femke Bol who dominated the season. The Flying Dutchwoman's 51.45 in London was her third series record in three years.
Amazing Ingebrigtsen
Jakob Ingebrigtsen's 2000m world record was just one of several Diamond League records the Norwegian star broke in another coruscating year in 2023. As well as a world best of 7:54.10 in the non-Diamond League two miles in Paris, the 23-year-old also completed a breathtaking double at the series final in Eugene. After setting a European and Diamond League record of 3:43.73 in the mile on day one, Ingebrigtsen then repeated the feat in the 3000m the following day to join an elite group of athletes who have won two Diamond Trophies in a single season.
