With the Games in sight, this meeting in Doha promises to be a great rehearsal for the quest for the Olympic holy grail.
Reigning world champion and Olympic champion, Neeraj Chopra, 26, a real star in India since he became in 2021 the first athlete from his country to win an Olympic gold medal in athletics, begins his season in Qatar which must take him to Paris.
Neeraj Chopra would like to “pass the 90 meters”
“My goal this year is to defend my Olympic title,” he told the organizers of the Doha meeting, the third stage of the Diamond League circuit. “But I would also like to pass the 90 meters”, the symbolic javelin barrier which he came very close to in 2022 (89.94 meters).
The javelin competition promises to be tough in Qatar, since the double world champion from Grenada Anderson Peters (record 93.07 meters) and the multiple Czech world medalist Jakub Vadlejch are also taking part.
Program for the Doha meeting, this Friday from 6 p.m. (5 p.m. Paris time)
Women : pole vault, high jump, 800 meters, 1500 meters, 5000 meters, 100 meters hurdles, 100 meters
Men : long jump, 400 meters, 200 meters, javelin, 1500 meters, 400 meters hurdles, 3000 steeplechase
Mary Moraa at the forefront
Among the other big names present in Qatar on Friday, Kenyan Mary Moraa is expected in the 800 meters against, among others, the British indoor world vice-champion Jemma Reekie.
Surprise world champion in the double lap last summer in Budapest ahead of the American favorite Athing Mu and the British Keely Hodgkinson, Moraa completed the 400 meters this winter before launching her summer season at the end of April at the Nairobi meeting, where she won the 800 meters.
Gardiner on 400, Moon and Kennedy on pole vault
Olympic champion in the 400 meters in 2021, injured during the World Championships in Budapest last summer, the Bahamian lap specialist Steven Gardiner is also expected in Doha a week after the world relays in the Bahamas, where he and his teammates in the 4×400 meters mixed have obtained their Olympic qualification.
The evening will also be marked by the women’s pole vault competition, with Budapest co-world champions Katie Moon and Nina Kennedy meeting for the first time this year after sharing world gold in the summer. last.
Without the world sprint megastars, it is the Americans Courtney Lindsey – best world performer of the season in the 200 meters – and Kenneth Bednarek – Olympic vice-champion in the 200 meters – who should provide the spectacle on the half-lap of the track.
