Kinyamal, Kemei set to open Diamond League season in Doha

Kenya's Wyclife Kinyamal, Aaron Kemei Cheminingwa and Laban Korir will, on Friday, 16 May, one up for the men's 800m at this year's Doha Diamond League. 

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Former Commonwealth Games champion, Kinyamal, makes his debut in track this season, having last raced at the Brussels Diamond Discipline on 14 September. No stranger to the series, he carries a 1:42.08 personal best (PB) that leaves him as one of the favourites. 

Africa Games 800m champion Cheminingwa, who thrust himself into the limelight with the continental title, breaking a 25-year-long wait since the last Kenyan won the title in 1999, will also be in action. 

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Just like Kinyamal, the African holder carries a 1:42.08 PB to the Doha race. He has however been active, opening his season with a 14th place finish at the Sirikwa Classic Cross Country tour.

He has also raced the 400m at the 5th Athletics Kenya (AK) meet at Nyayo, clocking a 46.88 season best. 

The third Kenyan, Korir, is looking to build on his third-place finish at the Competition FNB Botswana Golden Grand Prix in his first 800m race of 2025. 

The trio goes up against a field headlined by 2024 World Indoor champion Bryce Hoppel who is the quickest on paper, with a 1:41.67 PB, but has run 1:47.02 this season. 

Algeria's Slimane Moula, a 1:43.38 runner and Botswana's Masalela Tshepiso, who has run 1:44.77 this season, add to the field's depth. 

Meanwhile, organisers have confirmed that athletes who set new meeting records will be awarded a $5000 (Approximately Ksh646,250) bonus.

This is the first time that the Doha Meeting has committed to paying out new meeting record bonuses for all disciplines. Together with a record prize pot of $9.24 million (Ksh1,194,270,000) across the 2025 Wanda Diamond League series, the announcement marks another welcome addition for athletes.

Mohammed Al Fadala, Qatar Athletics Federation president, said: “The Doha Meeting has established itself as one of the leading Wanda Diamond League fixtures, but we’re an ambitious nation and our ongoing commitment to delivering world class sporting events remains one of our key priorities. Valuing our athletes, and our ability to provide memorable experiences for them when they’re here, is central to achieving that.

We know in Doha that key success factors include providing exceptional hospitality and presenting the perfect stage for top quality competition. The addition of meeting record bonus payments for 2025 underlines our ambition to be even better as the landscape of track and field continues to change.

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We are proud of what we’ve achieved in recent years, but we must innovate if we are to continue to grow our reputation and profile on the global athletics circuit.”