After clinching his maiden Olympic gold in Tokyo last August, Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim is set to make his first appearance in 2022 after the high jump superstar confirmed his participation for next month’s Doha Diamond League.
The reigning Olympic and World champion yesterday announced on his twitter handle that he will take part in the season-opening meet to be held on May 13 at the Suheim Bin Hamad Stadium. “The date is 5/13. God willing, my first competition in the 2022 season – the Diamond League, Doha round. Also the first appearance after the Tokyo Olympics,” Barshim tweeted yesterday.
Barshim clinched the gold medal on August 1, 2021, sharing the honour with Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi in an unprecedented gesture that received widespread appreciation.
The Doha Diamond League will be held less than 100 days before the World Athletics Championships Oregon, which will be held in Eugene, USA.
Barshim will lead a star cast at the Doha Diamond League, which also includes in-form pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis of Sweden, the Olympic champion and the world record holder, as well as the Olympic, Asian and Commonwealth Games javelin champion Neeraj Chopra of India.
Doha leg is the first of 14 meetings this season which concluding with a single final across two days in Zurich on September 7-8. Athletes will have up to seven opportunities to compete for Diamond League points in their chosen diamond discipline in the course of the season, as they bid for a place in the Wanda Diamond League Final in Zurich.
Mutaz Barshim
