Aussie XI powers towards Diamond League Final

A record 11 Australian athletes including seven global medallists are bound for the 2025 Diamond League Final in Zurich, Switzerland where they have earned the right to compete for glory at one of the sport’s most prestigious annual occasions.

After 14 meetings beginning with Xiamen in April, the long road to qualify is over and the world’s best athletes are ready to put on a show in the world’s premier athletics series, with Australia’s top performers ready to rumble ahead of the 2025 World Athletics Championships next month.

The two-day meeting will take place from 1:00am AEST on Thursday (August 28) and 2:30am AEST on Friday (August 29), with Australian viewers able to tune in live and free via the Diamond League YouTube channel. Full entry lists are available HERE.

The winner of each event will receive the Diamond League trophy, $50,000USD and a World Championships wildcard.

Women’s High Jump
(1:15am AEST, Thursday)

It’s time to fly for Australia’s high jumping New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) duo of Nicola Olyslagers (Matt Horsnell) and Eleanor Patterson (Fayaaz Caan) who find the perfect dress rehearsal for next month’s World Championships.

The Tokyo tune-up will see the pair face off against world record holder and Olympic champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh (UKR), earning Australia two positions in the final featuring the six best high jumpers in the world in 2025.

A three-way tie last week in Brussels saw Olyslagers land on top with 1.91m in unfavourable conditions, while Mahuchikh slumped to an uncharacteristic no height and Patterson was competitive – clearing the same height as the winning trio but being relegated to fourth place on countback.

The Ukrainian is going for her fourth consecutive Diamond League Final victory, which would match Mariya Lasitskene’s run from 2017-2021.

Men’s Pole Vault
(1:43am AEST, Thursday)

Lost in all the talk of the six-metre barrier is the fine form of Kurtis Marschall (WA, Paul Burgess) who has cleared 5.90m six times this year, and he is not done yet.

Following the benchmark of the discipline in world record holder and Olympic champion Armand Duplantis (SWE) and the rapidly improving Emmanouil Karalis (GRE), Marschall is staking a big claim for the number three spot at the World Championships with his consistency in 2025.

Marschall delivered four consecutive Diamond League meeting podiums from June to August before an uncharacteristic no height in Lausanne last week, now eager to bounce back on the biggest stage of them all.

Men’s Long Jump
(2:35am AEST, Thursday)

World Indoor medallist Liam Adcock (QLD) has hardly put a foot wrong this year in his rise on the global long jump scene, and the bigger the occasion – the better his hopes.

With an 8.34m personal best, the 29-year-old has gone from never competing in a Diamond League meeting before this year to qualifying for the final in Zurich, where he will take on Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou (GRE) and rising star Mattia Furlani (ITA).

The showman Adcock finished on top of the Diamond League standings in qualifying for the final with 19 points; a testament to his season to date and chances as a genuine contender.

Men’s Discus Throw
(1:30am AEST, Friday)

The back-to-back Diamond League champion, few Australians have made their mark on this occasion like Matthew Denny (QLD, Dale Stevenson).

Rising to number two on the global all-time list earlier this year to back up his Olympic bronze in Paris last year, the Allora product has one Diamond League meeting win to his name this year in Doha to go with a third place in Stockholm, but challenges will come from world record holder Mykolas Alekna (LTU) and Kristjan Ceh (SLO) in Zurich.

A three-peat would make Denny the first man to do so since Poland’s Piotr Malachoswki (2014-2016), and the Australian is every chance as a man who always saves his best for last.

Women’s 3000m
(2:49am AEST, Friday)

National record holder Georgia Griffith (VIC, Nic Bideau) and Rose Davies (NSWIS, Scott Westcott/pictured above) will fly the flag for Australia over 3000m, where Griffith owns the second-best personal best in the field.

A trio of Ethiopians headed by Hirut Meshesha at 8:22.72 will lead the charge for the compact field of 10 athletes, with the Australians likely to keep their powder dry until the closing laps where they will unleash their bids for the coveted Diamond League trophy.

No Australian woman has ever run faster than Griffith’s 8:24.20, but it was Davies herself who took down her teammate in Silesia last week when finishing in fourth place in 8:36.53.

Women’s 1500m
(3:40am AEST, Friday)

It is a rare Diamond League Final without Kenyan great Faith Kipyegon, which leaves many athletics fans looking towards Olympic silver medallist Jessica Hull (NSWIS, Simon Hull) as the next one up.

Hull will compete for the win alongside Linden Hall (VIC, Ned Brophy-Willliams) who has served up back-to-back personal bests, with both athletes chasing the added incentive of securing a World Championships wildcard which would unlock a fourth position for Australia in Tokyo in the Women’s 1500m.

The Australian record holder’s seasons best of 3:52.67 is the fastest in the field by over four seconds, but Hull won’t have it all her own way with the likes of Birke Haylom (ETH) in the field who has 3:53 credentials when fit and firing.

For the first time since 2019, the trophy will be won by an athlete other than Kipyegon.

Women’s Javelin Throw
(3:45am AEST, Friday)

World Championships medallist Mackenzie Little (NSWIS, Angus McEntyre) has competed lightly in 2025 while juggling her full-time job as a doctor, but having done enough to qualify for Zurich – the javelin thrower will be channelling her best.

Little is yet to eclipse the 60m barrier this year and will need to do so if she is to contend with back-to-back champion and Olympic gold medallist Haruka Kitaguchi (JPN) or world number two Adriana Vilagos (SRB), but her career-best of 66.27m gives her a live chance in any contest.

In 2023, Little took third place in the Diamond League Final, while in 2024 she finished fifth.

Women’s 800m
(5:09am AEST, Friday)

With a personal best of 1:57.83 to her name at the Shanghai Diamond League, Sarah Billings (VIC, Nic Bideau) cemented herself as a regular on the Diamond League circuit in 2025, racing at eight of the 15 meetings.

At first glance Billings holds the slowest seasons best in the field of eight in Zurich, but the fastest of those is Audrey Werro (SUI) at 1:56.29 in what shapes up as a thrilling final which will be decided by tactics and timing – Billings owning the closing speed to contend.

Olympic bronze medallist over 1500m Georgia Hunter-Bell (GBR) has earned narrow favouritism and for the first time since 2019, the Diamond League 800m title will be won by an athlete other than Keely Hodgkinson or Mary Moraa.

Lachlan Moorhouse, Australian Athletics