The season so far: Top five in the field

When Mondo Duplantis is in town, a world record is never impossible. When the Swedish pole vault star kicked off his Wanda Diamond League title defence in Xiamen, however, the chances of another historic jump seemed reasonably slim. Duplantis had only just scraped to the world indoor title with a (by his standards) scratchy performance in Glasgow, and was in new territory with a season opener so early in the year. Yet in Xiamen, he confounded expectations once again, soaring to 6.24m to break the world record for the eighth time in his young career. After his title-winning 6.23m at the 2023 series final in Eugene, it was the second time he had broken the record in the Wanda Diamond League, and the first time any athlete had broken the same world record in back-to-back Diamond League meets. As Duplantis eyes a second Olympic title and a fourth Diamond Trophy in 2024, he already has his sights set on the next historic high. "There’s still some higher heights in me, for sure, as long as everything is in the right place," he said in Xiamen.

Having made history as the first Japanese athlete ever to be crowned Diamond League champion in 2023, Haruka Kitaguchi headed into this season as firm favourite to take the title again in the women's javelin. With her first appearance coming in Suzhou, just a short hop from her home country compared to other Diamond League destinations, it seemed the stage was set for a statement win to start the season. Instead, Kitaguchi found herself trailing Australian rival Mackenzie Little as she headed into the final round. Facing a surprise defeat, the Japanese star promptly pulled out a 62.97m throw with her final effort, snatching victory from Little's grasp and proving once again why she is the woman to beat. "It's not good for my heart!" she joked, but it wouldn't be the last time she left it late in 2024. A few months later in Monaco, she did exactly the same thing, whisking victory from the jaws of defeat with a final round throw of 65.21m.

When Mykolas Alekna broke the discus world record in April, it sent shockwaves through the world of athletics. The Lithuanian had already established himself as a rising star with medal performances at the World Athletics Championships in 2022 and 2023, but in a discipline dominated by Slovenia's Kristjan Ceh and Sweden's Daniel Stahl, few expected it to be him who ultimately broke the world record, least of all at a small meeting in Ramona, Oklahoma in the middle of spring. Having never won a Diamond League meeting before 2024, Alekna therefore started the season under growing pressure to prove he was more than a fluke and could sustain his dominance even on the biggest stage. He did just that at his first appearance in Marrakech, launching an impressive 70.70m to claim his first ever Diamond League win. He soon followed up with two more victories in Oslo and Stockholm, nailing down his status as favourite for both the Diamond Trophy and Olympic gold. 

It is now almost a decade since Joe Kovacs claimed his first world and Diamond League titles back in 2015, but the American shows no signs of slowing down as he heads into his third Olympic Games this summer. On the contrary, Kovacs has spent the last few years reasserting himself among the very elite of the men's shot put, with medals at the World Atheltics Championships in Budapest and Eugene and back-to-back Wanda Diamond League titles in 2022 and 2023. In an event as competitive as the men's shot put, however, it always pays to prove yourself again, and that is exactly what Kovacs did in Eugene this season. Almost exactly two months before the start of Paris 2024, the American delighted his home crowd with a world-leading 23.13m, hurling down the gauntlet for the likes of Ryan Crouser, Leonardo Fabbri, Tom Walsh and others ahead of the Olympics. 

Few athletes have been as dominant in recent Diamond League seasons as Yaroslava Mahuchikh. The Ukrainian high jump star has established an iron grip on the Diamond Trophy with back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023, picking up nine victories in the process despite fierce competition from the likes of her Australian rival Nicola Olyslagers. Yet the Ukrainian has never shone us brightly as she did at the Wanda Diamond League in Paris this season. In what proved to be the perfect dress rehearsal for her bid for a first Olympic title, Mahuchikh was forced to show grit before ultimately making high jump history with her final attempt. Having taken two attempts to get over 1.95m and 2.01m and stay ahead of Olyslagers in a gruelling duel, the Ukrainian then hit her stride after wrapping up victory at 2.03m. She cleared 2.07m on the second attempt, before setting a new world record with her first attempt at 2.10m. "I feel fantastic because it was an incredible jump, and I managed to do it in my first attempt," she said afterwards. "My coach told me that maybe I should stop after 2.07m because of the Olympic Games coming up, but I felt inside I could do it."