The power players

There were plenty of familiar faces on the winners’ podium in Brussels, as a number of Diamond League legends extended their dominant runs in the series.

Mondo Duplantis wrapped up a fourth straight title in the men’s pole vault, moving to within just three of the seven-title record jointly held by his friend and rival Renaud Lavillenie. Femke Bol also won a fourth straight Diamond Trophy in the 400m hurdles, while Faith Kipyegon‘s meeting record in the 1500m means she now has five trophies on her mantlepiece. Her male opposite number Jakob Ingebrigtsen also defended his 1500m title in style, taking his title tally to four.

Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh (high jump), the Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino (400m) and the USA’s Valarie Allman (discus) all secured their third titles, while Emmanuel Wanyonyi successfully defended his 2023 crown with a late surge to defeat Marco Arop and Djamel Sedjati in the men’s 800m.

Australian discus thrower Matthew Denny and Japanese javelin star Haruka Kitaguchi both successfully defended their Diamond Trophies, having won the series for the first time in 2023.

It wouldn’t be a Diamond League Final without a few major upsets, and Brussels also delivered some of the biggest surprises in the series’ history.

Chief among them was the triumph of Britain’s Charlie Dobson in the men’s 400m: having seen his compatriot and Olympic silver medallist Matthew Hudson-Smith pull up injured earlier in the race, the 24-year-old delivered the performance of a lifetime to overtake Kirani James and Muzala Samukonga on the home straight.

Dobson was one of several athletes who won the trophy despite having never before won a Diamond League meeting. In the men’s and women’s 3000m steeplechase, favourites Soufiane El Bakkali and Winfred Yavi fell to Kenyan’s Amos Serem and Faith Cherotich respectively. In the men’s 100m, Jamaica’s Ackeem Blake broke his Diamond League duck at the best possible moment with victory over US rivals and former Diamond League champions Christian Coleman and Fred Kerley.

Blake’s compatriot Tajay Gayle delivered another big shock as he defeated Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou in the men’s long jump, the Greek slumping to a surprise Diamond League Final defeat for the second year in a row.

Yet the biggest surprise of all arguably came in the men’s 200m, where Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo lost his winning streak at the worst possible moment and was outrun by Paris silver medallist Kenny Bednarek.