Diamond League

What is the Diamond League?

The Wanda Diamond League is a season of one-day athletics meetings, not a single championship. Its rules set out "32 different disciplines"; athletes score 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 points for places one to eight at the series meetings, and those who qualify via the Road to the Final "compete in a winner-takes-all season finale to be crowned Wanda Diamond League champion". Each Final winner receives the Diamond Trophy and a wildcard for the World Athletics Championships, to which, the rules add, "certain conditions apply".^[4]

Who organizes the Diamond League?

The series is run by Diamond League AG, whose site lists World Athletics as "Founding Partner" and Wanda Group as title partner.^[3] Hosting of the Final is decided by the Diamond League Association: its General Assembly awarded the 2024–2027 Finals in March 2022 "on the recommendation of the Quality Commission, which reviews applications to host the final".^[8]

When is the season held, and where is the Final?

The season runs through the northern summer. The 2026 calendar had 15 meetings, from Shanghai/Keqiao on 16 May to Brussels on 4–5 September: Shanghai/Keqiao, Xiamen, Rabat, Rome, Stockholm, Oslo, Doha, Paris, Eugene, Monaco, London, Lausanne, Silesia, Zurich and Brussels, in China, Morocco, Europe, Qatar and the United States.^[1] World Athletics described 14 series meetings leading to the Final in Brussels.^[2] That Final has been held: the league reported 32 athletes "crowned 2026 Wanda Diamond League champion at the series final in Brussels".^[7] Until 2019 the season's conclusion was "split between two separate meetings" in Brussels and Zurich; in 2020 the league announced that athletes would not earn Diamond League points and that the single Final planned for Zurich would not take place.^[8][10] From 2024 to 2027 the Final alternates between Brussels and Zurich.^[8]

Rows are seasons. Pool: the season's concluding format. Host cities: the Final's venue and dates where the league publishes them. The table names no champions: each Final crowns one per discipline.^[9][11]

Since when does it exist?

World Athletics described 2026 as the series' "17th season", which dates the first season to 2010.^[2] The league's own account of its Finals says that from 2010 to 2019 the conclusion was split between Brussels and Zurich, that the 2021 Final in Zurich was the first held over two days with all 32 disciplines, and that Zurich hosted again in 2022.^[8] The 2023 Final, on 16–17 September at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, was the first held "not in Zurich or Brussels".^[9]

How do athletes qualify for the Final?

The series' rules set the route to the Final. Under them, "the top six in the field events, top eight for 100m-800m and the top ten for 1500m and long distance events" in the points standings qualify, and one athlete per discipline "may instead qualify via national or global wildcard" (see wildcards). A Final 3 format is used in the throws and horizontal jumps at series meetings but not at the Final.^[4]

Why does it matter?

The proxies are prize money, reach and the World Championships wildcard. The league's prize-money page states that in 2026 it "will pay out a total of 9.24 million US dollars", 500,000 US dollars at each of the 14 series meetings, with a Final winner receiving 30,000 US dollars in a Diamond discipline and 60,000 in a Diamond+ discipline. Across a discipline, the page puts the purse at between 30,000 and 40,000 US dollars at a series meeting and between 60,000 and 100,000 US dollars at the Final.^[5] Its season review of 9 September 2026 gives the pool as 9.84 million US dollars and reports broadcast in "more than 180 territories"; the two league figures for the total differ (see prize money).^[6]

Who competes?

Men and women compete in the same meetings across the disciplines of the programme. The league's 2026 review counts 1,097 participants from 93 countries, with meeting winners from 41 countries, and 32 Diamond League champions from 18 countries, 21 of them first-time winners of the title. The same review records four world records and 17 Diamond League records set during the 2026 season.^[6] Records and athlete careers sit on the athletics page and with the World Athletics Championships.