From Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, sprint legend of all time, to India’s javelin throw star Neeraj Chopra, to Kiwi Hamish Kerr, the Olympic high jump champion, to American pole vault queen Katie Moon among others will all be on show at the Jetour Doha Diamond League athletics meeting at the Suhaim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha on Friday evening.
And the organizers – The Qatar Athletics Federation along with World Athletics have announced that athletes who set new meeting records at the 2025 event will be awarded a $5,000 bonus.
Qatar’s former Olympic high jump champion Mutaz Barshim, who due an injury won’t be in action but was present at the pre-event briefing and spoke on behalf of the champions athletes including Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo (200m) when he said, “It’s important that we take care of the athletes.”
A great ambassador for the sport and his country, the 33-year-old Barshim was talking about the $5000 bonus payments on offer to athletes who set new meeting records at the 2025 Diamond League event in his home city.
Track and field isn’t an easy job. It’s tough out there and when it comes to the financial part of the sport you can be fourth or fifth in the world and you might still need a job (when you retire). Change is good and we’re moving in the right direction.
Barshim, a multiple Olympic medallist, won an unprecedented third successive global title with victory at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene 2022. He will target ‘one more medal’ at this year’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, before the Asian Games in 2026, an event which is very close to his heart.
The issue that sadly kept him out of his own meeting last week will potentially keep him out of tomorrow’s showpiece, but his commitment to the sport and his supporters was clear.
I want to jump at home, this is the place I care about most,” he said. “It was a really difficult moment not to be able to jump last week, and it’s the same again here. We have responsibilities in this sport and we put our bodies on the line and part of that means injuries. If you don’t push yourself to the limit you don’t know how far you can go.
Still at the start of his promising career, Olympic champion Kerr admitted he grew up watching and supporting Barshim. “To see him lead the way in our sport is inspiring,” he said of his friend and rival.
“The high jump is very open right now and for me, at this time, it’s about learning from each competition and building. Physically I’m in really good shape but I’ve not yet been able to fully connect, but that’s what’s so good about having these chances to compete.”
The 28-year-old Kerr won the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships with a national record and Oceania best of 2.36m, upgrading his 2022 bronze. He matched that height in Paris, winning Olympic gold after a jump-off. The Commonwealth champion most recently finished second in the 2025 World Indoors.
Like the men’s high jump, the women’s pole vault is equally competitive.
“On any given day there are several of us who can walk away with a win and it keeps me motivated to stay on top of my game,” said Moon, the 2021 Olympic champion and two-time world champion (Eugene 2022 and Budapest 2023) who won silver in Paris last summer.
I’m feeling great. This is the best string of training I’ve put together the last couple of years. I felt really good this indoor season and so far, knock on wood, it’s been really good. Having jumped here in the past it’s a great runway and perfect conditions and I’m very excited. I really love jumping here.
The Doha meeting record for the women’s pole vault is 4.84m (Sandi Morris, USA, 2018 and 2021). “If I jump that this early it would be huge (from a confidence-perspective),” said Moon. “The money is just an added bonus.”
The spotlight would also be on Shelley Fraser-Pryce who became the first Jamaican woman to win an Olympic women’s 100m title at the Beijing Games in 2008 and successfully defended her title in London 2012.
She has won a record five global 100m titles to date, including at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha (where she also won 4 x 100m relay gold), and was named Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year at the prestigious 2023 Laureus World Sports Awards.
Third-fastest of all-time over 100m with a best of 10.60s (Lausanne, 2021), she last competed at the Diamond League meeting in Doha in 2021 where she took victory in the 100m in 10.84s (+1.1m/s).
I’m really excited to be here. 2019 (World Championships) was really special for me and I have great memories. I like to think of defying the odds in Doha. I was coming back after having my son (Zyon) in 2017 and being able to cross that line and have that moment in Doha with my son on the track – and after turning 30 – was really special.
On how she looks at the challenge ahead, Fraser-Pryce said, “I’m an older athlete so I have to make sure I’m pacing myself the best I can. I think it works for some of us (to have the World Championships) in September. It’s given me time and it’s given me an opportunity to get back to the drawing board and regroup mentally and physically.”
Meanwhie, there is also a good chance Olympic champion Tebogo could break the meeting record for the 200m. Currently 19.67 by Kenny Bednarek in 2024, Tebogo – a world 100m silver and 200m bronze medallist in 2023 – is more than capable.
He clocked an area record of 19.46 to take victory in Paris and in doing so made history by claiming his country’s first Olympic gold medal in any sport. It was the fastest time in the world in 2024 and moved him to fifth on the world all-time list.
“A good performance would be to finish healthy,” he said, modestly.
Of all the Doha meeting records, the men’s javelin mark of 93.90m (Thomas Röhler, GER, 2019) is arguably the toughest to conquer. “It’s the Diamond League record so it’s very hard!” laughed 2024 Olympic javelin silver medallist Neeraj Chopra.
Chopra is the reigning world and Asian Games champion and is India’s national record holder with a best of 89.94m. He made history in Tokyo when he became the country’s first Olympic gold medallist in track and field and that trend continued at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest when he became the first athlete from India to strike gold.
Chopra is the reigning world and Asian Games champion and is India’s national record holder with a best of 89.94m. He made history in Tokyo when he became the country’s first Olympic gold medallist in track and field and that trend continued at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest when he became the first athlete from India to strike gold.
Now coached by world javelin record holder (98.48m) and multiple Olympic and world champion Jan Zelezny (CZE), the 27-year-old is excited to throw at the Jetour Doha Meeting on Friday.
I like to compete in Doha, so many javelin throwers throw their personal bests (PBs) in Doha, and because of the Indian community here, so many people come to the stadium and support me.
“I feel really good. My last throwing session in training was really great and I’m ready. It was hard in the beginning (working with Zelezny) because it was a new experience for me, but I really like it and I’m doing some great sessions. We’ve changed some little things in my technique and everything is going well. He’s also helped me with other things, such as to compete with a strong mindset."
Barshim, fittingly, that had the last laugh. The men’s high jump meeting record in Doha – which is his, of course – is 2.40m. As conversation turned to what was possible tomorrow night, and who might leave with the $5000 bonus payments, he turned to young pretender Kerr and smiled; “If you jump 2.41m, I’ll triple that for you!!”.
