Five reasons to watch the Wanda Diamond League in 2025

The Diamond League has been a veritable hotbed of athletics history in recent years, with 13 world records broken in the past two seasons alone. The series' magic cocktail of world class fields, championship-level tracks and packed out, roaring stadiums has propelled athletes like Sweden's Mondo Duplantis and Kenya's Faith Kipyegon to multiple world records since 2023, and the upcoming season promises more of the same. While you can never guarantee a world record, several athletes will have their eyes on a historic mark this season. Duplantis, who set the current pole vault world record of 6.26m at the Silesia Diamond League last year, has often talked about one day going as high as 6.30m. Kipyegon has broken world records in the 5000m, 1500m and mile at recent Diamond League meetings, and will have a chance to add the 1000m to that roster in Xiamen. American 110m hurdles Olympic champion Grant Holloway has also made no secret of his dreams of a first outdoor world record.

If you want to beat the best, you have to compete with the best. The Diamond League is where the sport's biggest stars cut their teeth and get in shape for major championships - and that means facing their biggest rivals. From Josh Kerr and Jakob Ingebrigtsen in the 1500m to Rai Benjamin, Karsten Warhom and Alison Dos Santos in the 400m hurdles, the Diamond League has seen some intense rivalries in recent years, and 2025 is already promising some thrilling head-to-heads. In Xiamen, Letsile Tebogo and Christian Coleman will face off in the men's 100m, while Eugene has already confirmed three Olympic podium rematches at this year's Prefontaine Classic. Keely Hodgkinson, Mary Moraa and Tsige Duguma meet in the women's 800m, Ryan Crouser, Joe Kovacs and Rajindra Campbell face off in the men's shot put, and Tara Davis-Woodhall, Malaika Mihambo and Jasmine Moore will slug it out in the women's long jump. 

Part of what makes the Diamond League so special are its stadia. Whether it's the passion of Kenyan and Ethiopian fans in Doha or the roar of a 60,000-strong crowd in London, this series delivers the kinds of atmospheres only otherwise seen at Olympic Games and World Championships - and it does so in some of the world's most iconic arenas. They include historic venues like the 1912 Olympic Stadium in Stockholm and the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, but also state-of-the-art modern arenas like the Egret Stadium in Xiamen and the Silesia Stadium in Chorzow. In total, the Diamond League meetings welcome 400,000 spectators in 2024, and some meetings have already sold out for the season ahead.

Click here to see ticket information for all Wanda Diamond League meetings

The Diamond League has always been on the cutting edge of athletics innovation. In recent years, it has helped introduce some of the biggest revolutions in the sport to the worldstage, from wavelight technology to the Final 3 format in throws and horizontal jumps. There are more innovations to come in the years ahead, as the series continues to evolve in a changing sport. Perhaps the most notable change in 2025 will be the introduction of the 300m hurdles as a Diamond Discipline, with Xiamen and Oslo both set to stage the shorter distance rather than the traditional 400m hurdles this season. Athletes will also earn more prize money than ever before in 2025, with a record total pool of USD 9.24 million. 

Ask any athlete, and they will tell you their main goal in 2025 is the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September. The Diamond League is always the perfect launchpad for a major championships, giving the world's best chance to get into medal-winning shape by competing at the highest level throughout the outdoor season. That is even more true this year, with Tokyo set to take place after the Wanda Diamond League Final in Zurich, meaning the world's best will be using the full Diamond League season to build up to their gold-medal tilt in Japan. From the 100m to the pole vault, there is no better place to gauge pre-championship form than in the Diamond League.