Diamond League raises 2025 prize money to over US$9 million
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Athletes compete in the women's 3,000m steeplechase final of the Brussels Diamond League meet.
PHOTO: AFP
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NEW YORK – The Diamond League will increase its prize money to more than US$9 million (S$11.6 million) in 2025, the highest in the history of the track-and-field series, its organisers said on Sept 18.
Athletes will make a total of US$18 million, with top athletes also receiving promotional fees. Male and female athletes will be paid at the same rate, the Diamond League said in a statement.
“The new total is almost a third higher than the sum paid during the pandemic-affected period of 2021-24,” the statement said, adding that more will be invested in the athletes’ travel, accommodation, medical and physio services.
Each of the 14 Diamond League meets of the 2025 regular season, scheduled to kick off in April, will award total prize money of US$500,000, with the Finals in August offering US$2.24 million.
“The total prize money per discipline will be between US$30,000 and US$50,000 at the series meetings, and between US$60,000 and US$100,000 at the Finals,” the statement added.
The Diamond League’s 2024 season concluded in Brussels, Belgium, on Sept 14, with Zurich, Switzerland, set to host the 2025 Finals.
“The Diamond League remains committed to rewarding the athletes more whilst, at the same time, ensuring the long-term sustainability of the series, so it continues to provide vital competition to the athletes for many more years to come,” said Petr Stastny, the chief executive of Diamond League.
“In an ever-changing landscape in the sports, media and entertainment world, we have always been on the forefront of innovation in our sport of athletics.
“Featuring a total of 32 disciplines over each season, we provide the world’s best athletes the opportunity to compete at the highest possible level. Having competitors from around 100 countries every year allows for TV audiences in 150 countries and territories, making our series a truly universal and global league.”
The news comes after World Athletics ended a 128-year tradition by paying Olympic champions at the Paris Games US$50,000 each, and as rival track events try to muscle in on the circuit long seen as the standard-bearer for professional athletics.
Retired American sprinting great Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track will offer prize money ranging from US$100,000 for the winner to US$10,000 for the eighth-placed finisher at each of four “Slams”, when the league is launched in 2025. It will have a total prize purse of US$12.6 million.
“In a league of our own,” Grand Slam Track wrote in a post on X on Sept 18, with a breakdown of their prize money. REUTERS
