Amusan, Duplantis top list of five reigning Diamond League champions in Xiamen

Reigning Diamond League champions Tobi Amusan (100m hurdles), Marileidy Paulino (400m), Valarie Aallman (Discus Throw), Armand Duplantis (Pole Vault) and Christian Coleman (100m) will launch their title defences in Xiamen, China at the opening leg of the 2024 Diamond League season.

Amusan, who won a hat-trick of 100m hurdles title will be up against a star-studded field which include Jamaican world champion Danielle Williams, Puerto Rico’s Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn and the last two world indoor champions in France’s Cyrena Samba-Mayela and Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas.

It will also be a battle of world record holders as Charlton, who set a world indoor record of 7.65 to win the 60m hurdles in Glasgow last month, will be keen to convert that form outdoors, while Amusan will be keen to return to her record-breaking form of 2022, having recently won the African Games title.

Samba-Mayela, Williams and Camacho-Quinn will all provide stiff opposition and will hope to lay down an early-season marker against their chief rivals on the path to the Paris Olympics.

Like Amusan, Coleman will also be hoping to get his title defence off to a flying start as he takes on US rival Fred Kerley and Jamaican stars Yohan Blake and Ackeem Blake.

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Coleman set a world-leading time of 9.83 to win in Xiamen last year and will be keen for a near repeat performance.

Paulino, like Coleman is also returning Xiamen after speeding to a 49.63 last season. The Dominican star takes on Polish rival Natalia Kaczmarek and Sada Williams of Barbados in a re-run of last year’s World Athletics Championships final in Budapest.

Reigning World, Olympic and Diamond League Pole Vault champion, Duplantis will also be competing in Xiamen for the first time and will be keen to lay down a marker as he seeks to defend his Olympic title in Paris.

Like Duplantis, Aallman is also making her first trip to Xiamen and the 29 year old American will be hoping to set the tone for the rest of the year as she seeks to defend her Olympic title and the Diamond League title she won for the third time last year in Eugene, Oregon, USA.