Men’s 100m
The men will try their best to replicate the women in the sprints with 2022 World champion Fred Kerley taking on the world 60m record holder Christian Coleman, who took a second world title in that event in Glasgow.
Coleman is the reigning and two-time Diamond League champion over the distance, Kerley himself taking the 2021 crown.
Both sit joint sixth on the world all-time list with 9.76s, behind 2011 world champion Yohan Blake who will aim to kickstart his Olympic season in Shanghai.
Blake’s 9.69s from Lausanne in 2012 remains the second-fastest of all-time but he will be aware of the challenge of compatriot and namesake Ackeem Blake, the 22-year-old having recently taken a first world medal, bronze behind Coleman in Scotland.
With double Olympic finalist Akani Simbine also in the field, blink and you’ll miss it.
Men’s pole vault
Could a world record be seen in the pole vault? You’d be a brave man to bet against it with the presence of the imperious Armand “Mondo” Duplantis. The greatest pole vaulter in history, an athlete who has cleared six metres or more on over 60 occasions and raised the world record ever higher to 6.23m will take on two-time world champion Sam Kendricks as well as both the shared bronze medallists from Budapest, Kurtis Marschall and Christopher Nilsen.
Men’s 110m hurdles
The men’s short hurdles features all the athletes from second down to fifth at last year’s World Championships, with 2023 Diamond League champion Hansle Parchment leading the field.
The Jamaican is the reigning Olympic champion from Tokyo and is only getting better, lowering his personal best aged 33 to take the Diamond League crown in Eugene. Daniel Roberts is the bronze medallist from Budapest, with fourth and fifth placers that day, Freddie Crittenden and Shunsuke Izumiya adding to a stellar field.
Men’s high jump
No man in history has won more world outdoor titles than Mutaz Barshim, three times a Diamond League overall winner. The Qatari took three world titles between 2017 and 2022, as well as the Olympic title in 2021. He will face the challenge of newly crowned world indoor champion Hamish Kerr. The New Zealander set a new national record of 2.36m in Glasgow and will have high hopes of using Shanghai as evidence that he can take that form outdoors too. Last year’s world fifth-placer Tobias Potye will also feature.
Men’s long jump
Jianan Wang will provide Chinese interest in the long jump, the 2022 world champion taking on 2019 champion Tajay Gayle, as well as the silver and bronze medallists from this year’s World Indoor Championships in Mattia Furlani and Carey McLeod.
2016 world indoor champion Marquis Dendy and 2017 world silver medalist Jarrion Lawson complete the line-up.
Men’s 5000m
10,000m Olympic champion Selemon Barega heads a fast 5000m field which also features the 2022 world bronze medalist, Oscar Chelimo, and an exciting outing over the distance for steeplechase superstar Lamecha Girma. Girma set the 3000m steeplechase world record in Paris last year, a few months after having taken over a second off Daniel Komen’s over 25-year-old world 3000m indoor record.
Girma will have familiar company in the form of brother Kuma, with many athletes hoping to break the 13-minute barrier.
Men’s 800m
Eugene world silver medalist Djamel Sedjati leads a competitive 800m field. The Algerian won two Diamond League meetings in 2023 and boasts a personal best of 1:43.06. Fellow Budapest finalist Tshepiso Masalela and Algerian Slimane Moula is also present, with two-time Commonwealth Games champion Wyclife Kinyamal the field’s most decorated. Six times he has won a Diamond League meeting, five of these with clockings of under 1:44.