Diamond League 2026 - everything you need to know as series begins

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Great Britain's world 200m silver medallist Amy Hunt joins global stars Armand Duplantis and Faith Kipyegon at the first Diamond League event of the season in China - live on the BBC.

The Diamond League - athletics' premier one-day meeting series - was due to begin in Doha on 8 May, but that event was postponed until June amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

There are 15 stops on the Diamond League circuit, culminating in a two-day final in Brussels in September, which this year will precede the inaugural season-ending World Athletics Ultimate Championship.

Hunt, 24, who achieved her first individual global podium in Tokyo last year, will contest a quality women's 200m which also features Jamaica's Shericka Jackson and American Sha'Carri Richardson.

Britain's 2023 world 800m medallist Ben Pattison, discus thrower Lawrence Okoye, and 5,000m runners Melissa Courtney-Bryant and Revee Walcott-Nolan are also in action.

Kenyan great Kipyegon, Swedish pole vault star Duplantis and Botswanan sprinter Letsile Tebogo headline the Shanghai/Keqiao event, live on BBC Two from 12:00 BST on Saturday.

'I don't like that people still reference Budapest' - Pattison

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Back to full fitness after an uninterrupted winter, Pattison, the second-fastest British 800m runner in history, is desperate to clinch more major silverware on home soil this summer.

The 24-year-old announced himself on the global stage by claiming a surprise 800m bronze in his first world final in Budapest in 2023, and moved behind only Sebastian Coe on the British all-time list the following season.

But, after illness disrupted his Olympic preparations and his 2025 plans were ruined by a stress fracture, Pattison is targeting European and Commonwealth medals in Birmingham and Glasgow respectively.

Speaking to BBC Sport before competing in China, Pattison said: "The plan is to do both and my goal is to get two medals. It's been three years now since I've got a medal at a major championship, so I feel like it's been far too long.

"I was asked at the world indoors: 'Do you feel like you need to get a medal again?' And I was thinking, hang on, I'm still quite young - but it does almost feel like that.

"I don't like the fact that people still reference Budapest. That was good, and if you had told me when I was younger that I'd retire with a world and a Commonwealth bronze medal, I'd have definitely taken that.

"But to achieve that by the age of 21, I'd like to think by the end of my career I'll definitely be able to get more medals - and that's what really gets me going."

Key events and timings at Shanghai/Keqiao Diamond League

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Saturday, 16 May

• 11:15 - men's pole vault (featuring Armand Duplantis)

• 11:37 - women's 5,000m (featuring Faith Kipyegon, plus GB's Melissa Courtney-Bryant and Revee Walcott-Nolan)

• 12:41 - men's 800m (featuring GB's Ben Pattison)

• 12:48 - men's discus (featuring GB's Lawrence Okoye)

• 12:52 - women's 200m (featuring GB's Amy Hunt)

• 13:16 - men's 100m (featuring Letsile Tebogo)

• 13:28 - women's 1500m (featuring Jessica Hull)

• 13:41 - men's 300m hurdles (featuring Karsten Warholm)

• 13:52 - women's 100m hurdles (featuring Tobi Amusan)

All times BST

What to watch out for in 2026 Diamond League

Great Britain's Josh Kerr has already announced he will attempt to break the long-standing men's mile world record at the London Diamond League meeting this summer - and there is plenty more to look forward to.

The London Athletics Meet will be a key date in the diary of many British stars, with a women's 200m showdown between relay team-mates Hunt, Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita among the standout events.

Before then, Hunt will test herself against Olympic 100m champion Julian Alfred and world 100m and 200m gold medallist Melissa Jefferson-Wooden in Rome.

Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson has so far been confirmed for Diamond League meetings in Rome, Stockholm and Eugene - competing over 400m in the latter - following a record-breaking indoor season.

Hodgkinson will go head-to-head with training partner Georgia Hunter Bell and reigning world 800m champion Lilian Odira at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene.

After improving the pole vault world record for the 15th time by clearing 6.31 metres in March, the unstoppable Duplantis returns to Stockholm - where he set his first world record on home soil last year - with Paris, London and a city event in Lausanne also among his targets.

Australia's teenage sensation Gout Gout will take on Olympic champion Tebogo over 200m in his Diamond League debut in Oslo, while Olympic 100m gold and silver medallists Noah Lyles and Kishane Thompson meet in Silesia.

How does the Diamond League work?

Athletes compete for points across 32 Diamond League disciplines at the 14 regular series meetings in a bid to qualify for the finals in Brussels in September.

After the 14th stop in Zurich in August, the top six athletes in field events, top eight in track events from 100m up to 800m, and top 10 in distances from 1500m upwards, will qualify for the finals.

The two-day finals are a winner-takes-all showdown to be crowned Diamond League champion in each event.

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All Diamond League events will be shown on the BBC until 2030 after a new multi-year deal was agreed last year.

The total prize money remains the same as 2025, when it was increased to $9.2m (£6.8m) - including $500,000 (£370,000) at each of the 14 series meetings, and $2.2m (£1.6m) at the Diamond League final.

However, the prize money structure has been altered to provide higher earnings to the winners of eight selected 'Diamond+' disciplines' at each meet, which offer $20,000 (£14,800) at series meetings and up to $60,000 (£44,400) at the finals.

Diamond League calendar 2026

• 16 May - Shanghai/Keqiao, China

• 23 May - Xiamen, China

• 31 May - Rabat, Morocco

• 4 June - Rome, Italy

• 7 June - Stockholm, Sweden

• 10 June - Oslo, Norway

• 19 June - Doha, Qatar

• 28 June - Paris, France

• 4 July - Eugene, USA

• 10 July - Monaco

• 18 July - London, England

• 21 August - Lausanne, Switzerland

• 23 August - Silesia, Poland

• 27 August - Zurich, Switzerland

• 4-5 September - Brussels, Belgium

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