TIME FLIES WHEN you’re having fun. It seems like only yesterday that the IAAF’s big-name invitational circuit was the Golden League, but the summer of ’19 will bring us edition No. 10 of the Diamond League. The series has been tweaked over the last decade, but the basic skeleton remains: 16 events per sex staged in varying numbers in 14 meets. The only difference in hosting this year is that the U.S. stop on the circuit, the Prefontaine Classic, will apparently move from Eugene to Stanford while Oregon’s Hayward Field is being rebuilt for the ’21 World Championships.
In the first 7 editions of the Diamond League, each of the 16 events was contested 6 times (for each sex) in the pre-Final meets. Then, for the ’17 season, there were only 8 such disciplines: 100, 200, 400, 800, 1500/Mile, 110H, HJ & PV. The other 8 events—steeple, 3000/5000, 400H, LJ, TJ, SP, DT, JT—were cut to 4 appearances. For ’18, the 400H was moved back to the list of events contested in 6 non-final meets, and that protocol will also be employed in ’19.
As always, there is nothing (well, other than financial constraints) to stop individual meets from adding events that aren’t on their DL roster, although they don’t count in DL point totals.
Once again, while athletes will still earn points in the first 12 meets, those points will serve only as a qualifying method to get into either Weltklasse or Van Damme, because they will not have anything to do with who wins the overall title. With a total prize purse of $1.6M, the winners of the $50,000 prize in each event in Zürich and Brussels will be the ones who actually win at that climactic meet. (The ’19 winners will also be eligible for Doha Wild Cards.) The finals will also offer another $50K overall for the next 7 finishers, paid out as $20K, $10K, $6K, $5K, $4K, $3K, $2K.
As always, the 12 qualifying meets will also have a prize structure, the 8-place distribution of $30,000 there being $10K, $6K, $4K, $3K, $2.5K, $2K, $1.5K, $1K.
The hammer, multi-events and walks remain out of the DL structure, but will once again have their own “Challenge” series. The hammer will pay 12-deep ($30K, $20K, $15K, $12.5K, $8K, $6K, $4.5K, $4K, $3K, $2K, $1K, $500), the multis 8-deep ($30K, $20K, $15K, $10K, $8K, $7K, $6K, $5K) and walks 8-deep ($25K, $15K, $10K, $8K, $7K, $6K, $5K, $4K).
Here’s the composite list of all-time DL champions, 2010–18.
2019 Diamond League Sorted By Event
Here’s this year’s distribution of DL events by meet. The meets in each event are listed in the chronological order in which they will be contested:
2019 Diamond League Sorted By Meet
In the 2019 version of the IAAF’s Diamond League, only the 2 final meets have 16 events, Zürich and Brussels each having 8 men’s events and 8 women’s…
Of the 12 “regular season” meets, 2 have 15 events (Shanghai, split 8/7; London 6/9), 4 have 14 events (Doha, Rome & Lausanne split 7/7; Paris 8/6) and 6 have 13 (Stockholm, Rabat, Stanford & Monaco 7/6; Oslo 6/7, Birmingham 5/8)…
On 15 occasions—London 100; Doha & Stockholm 200; Shanghai & London 400, Doha 800; Oslo 400H; Monaco & Paris TJ; Stanford SP; Stockholm, Rabat & Brussels DT; Shanghai & Zürich JT—a meet will have the same event for both sexes. Last year there were 13, after only 4 the year before…
Some 1500s will be miles, some 5000s will be 3000s…
The event distribution for 2019 (some meets may have “street events” on days before the official calendar date):
Doha (May 03)
Men’s 200, 800, 1500, St, PV, SP, DT; Women’s 200, 800, 5000, 100H, 400H, HJ, LJ
Shanghai (May 18)
Men’s 100, 400, 5000, 110H, 400H, HJ, LJ, JT; Women’s 100, 400, 1500, St, PV, SP, JT
Stockholm (May 30)
Men’s 200, 400, 1500, 400H, PV, LJ, DT; Women’s 200, 800, 5000, 100H, HJ, DT
Rome (June 06)
Men’s 200, 800, 5000, 110H, HJ, TJ, SP; Women’s 100, 400, 1500, 400H, PV, LJ, JT
Oslo (June 13)
Men’s 100, 1500, 5000, 400H, PV, JT; Women’s 200, St, 100H, 400H, HJ, TJ, SP
Rabat (June 16)
Men’s 200, 800, St, 110H, HJ, LJ, DT; Women’s 100, 400, 800, 1500, PV, DT
Stanford (June 30)
Men’s 100, 400, 1500, 110H, 400H, PV, SP; Women’s 200, 800, St, 5000, HJ, SP
Lausanne (July 05)
Men’s 200, 800, 1500, 5000, 110H, PV, LJ; Women’s 100, 400, 400H, HJ, TJ, SP, JT
Monaco (July 12)
Men’s 100, 400, 800, St, PV, TJ, JT; Women’s 200, 1500, 100H, 400H, HJ, TJ
London (July 20–21)
Men’s 100, 400, 800, HJ, TJ, DT; Women’s 100, 400, 1500, 5000, 100H, 400H, PV, LJ, JT
Birmingham (August 18)
Men’s 100, 400, 400H, HJ, JT; Women’s 200, 800, 1500, St, 100H, PV, LJ, DT
Paris (August 24)
Men’s 200, 1500, St, 110H, 400H, HJ, TJ, SP; Women’s 100, 400, 800, PV, TJ, DT
Zürich (August 29)
Men’s 100, 800, 5000, 400H, HJ, PV, LJ, JT; Women’s 200, 400, 1500, St, 400H, TJ, SP, JT
Brussels (September 06)
Men’s 200, 400, 1500, St, 110H, TJ, SP, DT; Women’s 100, 800, 5000, 100H, HJ, PV, LJ, DT