Strong line ups set for first event in 2014 IAAF Diamond League series

Six Brits are among the top fields in Diamond League action on Friday as the 14-event series returns for 2014.

Eilidh Child, Jenny Meadows, Brett Morse, Andrew Osagie, Shelayna Oskan and Chris Tomlinson will be joined by the likes of Valerie Adams, Asbel Kiprop, LaShawn Merritt, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Ezekiel Kemboi, Genzebe Dibaba and Ivan Ukhov in the Qatari capital.

The high jump sees the meeting of three 2.40m-plus jumpers in local favourite Mutaz Essa Barshim together with Derek Drouin and Ukhov. Tomlinson goes in the long jump against Olympic triple jump champion Christian Taylor, while Meadows will race in her first outdoor 800m since 2011 following her injury struggles and will be joined in that event by Oskan.

While world 800m record-holder and Olympic champion David Rudisha has withdrawn from the competition with a calf injury, world champion Mohammed Aman of Ethiopia has been added to the men’s 800m field which also features Osagie.

Fraser-Pryce faces the likes of Blessing Okagbare and English Gardner over 100m, while Warren Weir, Nickel Ashmeade and Curtis Mitchell line up in the 200m.

Meanwhile, at a press conference in Doha on Thursday IAAF President Lamine Diack announced how the next five years of the IAAF Diamond League have been guaranteed following a new agreement with the event’s partners through to at least 2019.

Click here for full startlists. The BBC will show the meeting via its Red Button service from 5pm UK time.

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