“In terms of where I am, you’ll just have to wait 24 hours and see,” teased Qatar’s former Olympic and world high jump champion Mutaz Essa Barshim as he spoke to a packed press conference ahead of the 2026 Mazzraty Doha Meeting (Friday 19 June).
It was a sentiment shared as he was joined on the top table by Neeraj Chopra (IND) – also a former Olympic and world champion – who threw beyond 90m for the first time to set a national javelin record of 90.23m in Doha 12 months ago. It was one of the greatest javelin competitions of all time but he was unable to build on such a momentous performance as he struggled with injuries in the lead up to and after the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
“This is my first competition of the season so I will try my best. I feel very good…but let’s see for tomorrow,” he said.
The hugely popular duo, who have both endured challenging periods out of the sport, will receive incredible support when they step out at the Qatar Sports Club tomorrow evening.
“I’m happy to be back,” said 34-year-old Barshim who has had an injury-interrupted couple of years. “It’s been a long time; my last Diamond League was almost two and a half years ago. I’m back now, I feel good, I feel healthy, and I need to do what I do best – jumping.
“You need to find a reason to step up and perform and my reason is to create history. I’m looking for legacy. Every competition could be my last so I always do my best.”
Chopra, who parted ways with coach Jan Železný after Tokyo and is now working with an Indian coach who has known him since he was a young athlete, told the audience Doha was his favourite place to open his season.
“It’s always amazing,” he said. “(To throw 90m) was really amazing last year, then Julian (Weber) threw further than me, but I was happy for him. We were both happy that we broke 90m together in Doha.”
Referring to the typically windy conditions at the event, he added: “We need to understand how we can use the wind. For runway speed and if we throw a little bit higher the wind really helps, but if you throw flat it doesn’t help.”
Good health, be it physical or mental, should never be taken for granted and as they talked about the event, the joy on the faces of Barshim and Chopra was palpable.
Cordell Tinch (USA) could resonate. The reigning world and Diamond League 110m hurdles champion has spoken openly about his mental health challenges in the past and continued that narrative in the press conference.
“I value my mental health over anything, it’s always going to come first,” he said, explaining why he stepped away from the sport between 2020 and 2023. “In order to be the athlete that you see smiling and having fun and enjoying everything he’s doing on the track, I’ve got to take care of myself off the track.
“Coming into this season knowing certain things had changed with family and friends, I had to decide if I was going to put my all into that type of stuff or put my all into track. I spent a little bit of the indoor season trying to figure some of that stuff out and it set me back just a little, but our seasons are long, so there’s a lot of time to get back to where I need to be and show what I want to show as a defending DL and world champion.”
He knows his event is grabbing headlines right now. Asked about Ja’Kobe Tharp’s recent world record (12.75), he responded: “ I’m proud of him and the athlete he’s become but I definitely sent him a message that night saying, ‘You got to it first but just know I’m on my way!’.
“The honest competitor in me would love to say I didn’t expect anyone to break the world record but me, but being very honest about it, I thought there were only two hurdlers that were currently running that had the ability to challenge it, me or him.
“We’re all pulling each other along. Things just happened to click for me (last year) and I was top of those Americans but it’s very competitive. It could be anybody on any day but I’d obviously love for it to be me.”
After kicking 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), Tinch was pleased to return to form with a 13.15 clocking in LA last weekend (14 June).
“For every race I’m into, as long as I can come out of it healthy it’s always going to be a good race,” he said. “Earlier in the season I was looking at times, but chasing times doesn’t do much for you if you’re not having fun, so being in Doha and competing here for the first time, enjoying very hot weather, coming out and enjoying it is all I can really do.”
Olympic triple jump champion and world silver medallist Thea Lafond (DMA) said she was feeling “pretty good” as she continues her return after spending much of last season fighting back from knee surgery.
“It’s kind of nice to be in a place where I’m healthy and being able to enjoy the sport again but also feeling quite strong,” said the 2024 world indoor champion who jumped 14.84m in May. “It’s nice to just enjoy it and know that I can trust my body and that it trusts me too.”
Lafond, who was second in the Doha Meeting in 2025, spoke about the energy in the stadium and how it ‘leans to big jumps’.
“It’s a great feeling and it’s great knowing you can come here and receive that kind of reception,” she said.
Crowd support benefits athletes in competition while the support of an athlete’s team – coach, physio, friends and family – is crucial behind the scenes.
“I find it hard to consistently show up for myself,” she admitted, “and it’s in moments like that I lean on my ‘village’. Our sport can be very individualistic, so you have to build your own team and being able to step back and have people around you that can help lift you up when you’re a little down can make a huge difference. I might be the person you see on the podium, but behind me is an army to get me there, so lean on those.”
In a similar vein, Tinch recalled a conversation he’d had with his mum: “There are two things I’ve always said with track – when it becomes a job I’ll be done with it but also if I’m not mentally ok that I can step back and know that I can come back to it when I am ok, so I’ll continue to voice that through my entire career, because if I didn’t take that break from 2019 to 2023 I don’t think I’d be world champion in 2025.”
Olympic 400m champion Marileidy Paulino (DOM) – who will open her Wanda Diamond League campaign at the Mazzraty Doha Meeting – is a three-time Diamond League Final winner who has won on both her previous outings to the Qatar Sports Club in 2022 (51.20) and 2023 (50.51).
He main goal for tomorrow evening is to win again. “I’m quite sure I can make it tomorrow,” she said.
The 29-year-old former world champion – the first woman from the Dominican Republic to win gold in any sport at the Olympic Games – ran a Dominican record of 47.98 for silver at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo.
“My main goal for the season is to try to improve my training and try to get stronger and to try to break my own record,” she added. “I’m working very hard to achieve my goal and I’m confident that during the season I can make it.”
With a reputation for performing when it matters most – and with a commitment to inspiring and motivating the next generation – she explained it was a result of ‘consistency and hard training’ that enabled her to achieve her goals ‘at the right time and at the right place.’
“I have been working very hard for the last five years and I’m always aiming for the major championships,” she said. “That’s the key and the secret.”
It was a common thread that ran through the press conference; consistency is key, but to achieve that you must be happy and healthy.
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.