Diamond League boss Petr Stastny embraces competition but has concerns
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Diamond League CEO Petr Stastny has issued a warning over looming 2025 calendar clashes that could hurt both athletes and organisers.
PHOTO: REUTERS
LOS ANGELES – Diamond League CEO Petr Stastny said that he welcomed the competition from other events such as Michael Johnson’s new Grand Slam Track series – but has issued a warning over looming 2025 calendar clashes that could hurt both athletes and organisers.
“Competition is good in many ways,” he said in a wide-ranging media roundtable on March 28.
“We do welcome these new projects in general. (But) we do not welcome date clashes, which unfortunately seem to be happening in 2025. The roster of athletes is fairly big, but it’s not unlimited, so big clashes are not in favour of the organisers nor the athletes.”
The Miami Grand Slam on May 2-4, for example, conflicts with the May 3 Diamond League in Shanghai. The Diamond League, entering its 16th season on April 26 in Xiamen, China, marks the first of 15 meetings spanning four continents.
As Stastny highlighted, the league benefits from its connection to the World Athletics Championships, with all 32 Diamond League winners earning wild-card entries to the championships scheduled from Sept 13 to 21 in Tokyo.
It also increased prize money for 2025
The Diamond League has faced criticism for not having enough prominent head-to-head competitions. However, this season will include a notable rematch: Keely Hodgkinson, Tsige Duguma and Mary Moraa will compete in the 800 meters at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene on July 5, recreating their Paris Olympic podium lineup.
The men’s 100m event at the Shanghai Diamond League will feature a thrilling competition between three top athletes: Letsile Tebogo, the reigning Olympic 200m champion; Marcell Jacobs, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic 100m gold medallist; and Christian Coleman, the 2019 world 100m champion.
The Diamond League’s television deals have faced criticism, particularly regarding FloTrack’s subscription-based broadcasting, which may deter casual sports fans and limit visibility in the US.
“Of course, we would want to be on free-to-air throughout, but if you have 32 to 33 hours of programming over the season, then it’s not easy to position that live in an attractive time slot, or in some channels,” said Stastny. “So yes, there is a mix of pay operations and free-to-air.”
The Diamond League will continue using the traditional take-off board for long and triple jump events this season, rather than adopting the new take-off zone being tested by World Athletics. The new zone aims to reduce foul jumps by allowing every attempt to count, but it won’t be implemented in the Diamond League yet.
“Because we do have to see it work and see how it is being received by the athletes,” Stastny added of the new take-off zone, which measures from where the front foot takes off to where it lands in the pit.
When asked about the absence of 10,000m races in the main menu of meets, he stated that this is unlikely to change. He explained that with a limited two-hour television window, the “10,000 are not ones we can provide in our main programme due to time constraints”.
In other athletics news, Australian sprinting prodigy Gout Gout was upstaged by compatriot Lachlan Kennedy in a pulsating men’s 200m in Melbourne on March 29.
Kennedy produced a personal best time of 20.26 seconds in front of a 10,000-strong crowd at the Maurie Plant Meet, while Gout, who was born in Australia after his parents migrated from South Sudan, finished second in 20.30.
The lanky 17-year-old rose to prominence in December when he clocked the quickest time ever by a 16-year-old and then ran the fastest 200m in the world in 2025 with 20.05 earlier in March. REUTERS, AFP
