Set for a sparkling contest

With talented young Chinese athletes all laced up and ready to pit themselves against a stacked field of elite champions, the world's premier track and field series has guaranteed fans a thrilling season opener in China.

The World Athletics Diamond League's 2026 curtain-raiser, to be held in Keqiao of Shaoxing city, Zhejiang province, on Saturday, promises to deliver a spectacular showpiece, with China's best sprinters, jumpers and throwers raring to challenge the world's top stars — more than 20 Olympic and world champions, including as many as six world record holders — in front of a home crowd.

And, offering just enough time for pulses to return to normal, a week later in Xiamen, Fujiang province, on May 23, they do it all again, capping off the season's tone-setting doubleheader.

Leading the star-studded international cast confirmed for the Shaoxing leg are Sweden's two-time pole vault Olympic champion Armand "Mondo" Duplantis, men's 400m hurdles world record holder Karsten Warholm of Norway and the fastest women's 100m hurdler in history Tobi Amusan of Nigeria.

A highly popular overseas star among Chinese fans, Duplantis, who just set his 15th and latest world record of 6.31m at an indoor meet in southeastern Swedish city Uppsala in March, will open his outdoor season in a loaded men's field that also includes Greece's Emmanouil Karalis, who moved to second on the athletes' world ranking in February with a 6.17m clearance in Athens, and two-time world champion Sam Kendricks of the United States.

Having triumphant memories of China, including his then-world-record-setting feat of 6.24m at last year's Xiamen leg, Duplantis, who has stayed unbeaten since 2023, will be keen to extend his winning streak and maybe just give fans another unforgettable moment this weekend.

Warholm will also kick-start his season hoping to carry on the momentum from his last visit to Shaoxing, when he clocked a 2025 world-leading 47.28 to win the 400m hurdles. This year though, he will be competing in the series-special 300m format, which was added to the league program last season and has replaced the traditional 400m in Shaoxing this year. He will be up against 2022 world champion Alison dos Santos of Brazil and world bronze medalist Trevor Bassitt of United States.

"I am so excited to return to Keqiao again this year," said the 30-year-old Norwegian, who set the 400m world mark of 45.94 with his golden finish at Tokyo 2020. "Winning here for the first time in my career last year was such a great feeling. I look forward to a great battle."

Women's track is expected to provide even greater intrigue, with local favorites ambitious to make their presence felt against their mighty international counterparts in both the 200m sprint and 100m hurdles.

Loaded with star power from Jamaica's two-time world champion Shericka Jackson and 2023 world 100m champion Sha'Carri Richardson of the US, the 200m race in Shaoxing is a dream stage for China's teen prodigy Chen Yujie, a Zhejiang native, to measure her meteoric rise against the world's fastest in front of her home crowd.

Chen, a 17-year-old high school student born and developed in Ningbo, shot to fame by winning both the 100m and 200m finals at the 2025 Chinese National Games, becoming the youngest ever to win both sprint titles in the domestic Games' history.

With a personal best of 22.97, and setting a new Asian U18 record at a South Korean meet in May last year, Chen is the only Asian athlete currently ranked in the 200m top 50.

The 100m hurdles will feature an even stronger lineup, bringing together winners of the past three outdoor worlds — Ditaji Kambundji, Danielle Williams and Amusan — along with reigning Olympic champion Masai Russell.

Nigerian great Amusan leads the field with her world record dash of 12.12, set in 2022 in Eugene, Oregon, yet faces an unpredictable test in Shaoxing with the starting blocks stacked with talent.

China's own star hurdler Wu Yanni, a celebrity among the sport's community domestically, is determined to at least try to keep up with the pack.

"I won't set any limit for myself, despite the gap between myself and the world's best," said Wu, who set her PB of 12.74 at the 2024 national championships.

"I will give my best for sure."

Shaoxing will also host a thrilling men's 100m sprint, where reigning 200m Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, South Africa's Akani Simbine and the US trio of Christian Coleman, Kenny Bednarek and Trayvon Bromell are pushing the bar high enough for an Olympic-caliber showdown.

In men's long jump, the Chinese combo of Shi Yuhao, the meet's defending champion, and Zhang Mingkun, who had to withdraw last year due to injury, are both expected to leap onto the podium on home soil.

After the Chinese doubleheader, the Diamond League will travel to another 12 cities across four continents en route to the series finale in Brussels in September.