The Mazzraty Doha Meeting, the seventh meeting of the 2026 Wanda Diamond League, will take place this Friday (19 June) at the Qatar Sports Club.
Crowds had gathered long before the start of last year’s Doha Meeting and as the stadium filled to capacity, athletes enjoyed a raucous reception from the pre-programme events through to the Wanda Diamond League disciplines that delivered four world leads – including a standout performance from Germany’s Julian Weber who threw an enormous 91.06m with his final throw to take the win – six senior national records and one meeting record-equalling performance.
While Weber has unfortunately had to delay the start to his season and won’t compete in Doha, the men’s javelin, which includes 2026 world leader Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage (SRI), will inevitably provide another Diamond League highlight alongside selected ‘ones to watch’ in the women’s 400m, men’s 3000m steeplechase and men’s 110m hurdles.
Organisers have once again confirmed that athletes who set new meeting records at the 2026 event will be awarded a $5000 bonus, an innovative concept that was first introduced in 2025.
Men’s javelin
Doha’s reputation for producing high quality javelin competitions looks set to continue as world leader Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage (SRI) – who threw a national record of 92.62m to win the Diamond League meeting in Rome on 4 June and go eighth on the world all-time list – will line up at the Qatar Sports Club alongside Keshorn Walcott (TTO), the reigning world champion.
In a field bursting with talent, the pair are joined at the Mazzraty Doha Meeting by a host of stars including former Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra (IND) – a recent addition to the field – former two-time world champion and Olympic bronze medallist Anderson Peters (GRN), and world bronze medallist Curtis Thompson (USA).
Peters finished third 12 months ago with 85.64m behind winner Weber (91.06m) and runner-up Chopra who threw beyond 90m for the first time to set a national record of 90.23m. 2012 Olympic champion Walcott was fourth (84.65m) and Ahmed Sameh Mohamed Hussein (EGY) – who also returns for this year’s event – fifth (80.95m).
Pathirage, the first Sri Lankan male javelin thrower to reach a World Athletics Championships final, finishing seventh in 2025, is an exciting young talent and will compete in Doha for the first time.
“Competing against the world’s best athletes is a dream come true for me and I’m incredibly excited to line up in Doha where we’ve witnessed many memorable javelin competitions over the years,” said the 23-year-old former cricketer who made his Diamond League debut in Rabat in May.
Julius Yego (KEN), former world champion and Olympic silver medallist, Jakub Vadlejch (CZE), former Olympic and world silver medallist, and Artur Felfner (UKR), European U23 champion and former world U20 champion, complete the field. Pakistan’s reigning Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem is not yet in his pre-competition phase and therefore not ready to compete.
Women’s 400m
Olympic 400m champion Marileidy Paulino (DOM) will open her 2026 Wanda Diamond League campaign in Doha.
The 29-year-old – the first woman from the Dominican Republic to win gold in any sport at the Olympic Games – set an Olympic record of 48.17 in Paris 2024 and led the top three to times inside 49 seconds for the first time in a women’s 400m.
The former world champion ran a Dominican record of 47.98 for silver at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo. It was the third-quickest time in history and the first time that two women (Paulino and winner Sydney Mclaughlin-Levrone) had dipped under 48 seconds in the same race.
Paulino – a three-time Diamond League Final winner – has won on both her previous outings to the Qatar Sports Club in 2022 (51.20) and 2023 (50.51).
Men’s 3000m steeplechase
Olympic champion and crowd favourite Soufiane El Bakkali (MAR) will make a welcome return to the Mazzraty Doha Meeting when he competes in the 3000m steeplechase.
El Bakkali, who backed up his Tokyo 2021 Olympic title with gold in Paris 2024, is also a two-time world champion (2022 and 2023). He came agonisingly close to make it a trio of global golds at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo but eventually finished second to New Zealand’s Geordie Beamish.
The 30-year-old clocked a 3000m personal best of 7.33.87 in his last outing in Doha in 2023. It kick-started a year to remember as he ran a lifetime best of 7:56.68 in the steeplechase in Rabat later the same month and went on to record an unbeaten season of five wins in steeplechase finals from May through to September.
He is also unbeaten this season so far with two steeplechase wins from two, winning in Rabat (7:57.25) and Stockholm (8:10.40).
“Doha feels like my second home and it means a lot to me to compete at this meeting where I’m privileged to have such great supporters,” said the 2022 Wanda Diamond League champion ahead of the meeting.
Men’s 110mH
Reigning world and Diamond League champion Cordell Tinch (USA) headlines the men’s 110m hurdles field.
Tinch, who stepped away from the track in 2020 before making a return in 2023, had a breakthrough year in 2025 during which he won five Diamond League races and recorded a 110m hurdles personal best of 12.87 – the joint fourth-fastest of all-time – with victory in Shanghai/Keqiao. His 12.99 winning time in Tokyo was his fifth-fastest ever and earned him his first global medal.
He kicked off his 2026 Diamond League campaign in China with a second-place finish in Shanghai/Keqiao (13.10) and a fifth place in Xiamen (13.28).
Notable changes
Of those previously announced, multiple Olympic, world and European pole vault champion Mondo Duplantis (SWE) has had to withdraw due to the rescheduled Doha date clashing with his wedding.
In the men’s high jump, ‘Flying Kiwi’ Hamish Kerr (MZL), the Olympic, world and Commonwealth champion, has also withdrawn – however Qatar star Mutaz Barshim, the former Olympic champion and two-time Olympic silver medallist who won an unprecedented third successive global title with victory at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene 2022, will compete.
Similarly, as noted above, reigning Olympic javelin champion Arshad Nadeem (PAK) has withdrawn but crowd favourite Neeraj Chopra (IND), former Olympic, world and Diamond League champion, has been added to the field.
The Mazzraty Doha Meeting is the seventh meeting of the 2026 Wanda Diamond League. The series comprises 15 of the most prestigious events in global track and field across four different continents and began in Shanghai/Keqiao on 16 May (as a result of the Doha Meeting being rescheduled). It concludes with a single final across two days in Brussels (4-5 September). The full start lists are available here: https://doha.diamondleague.com/programme-results/