Athletics: Warholm eyes world record at Diamond League in Xiamen

Xiamen (China), April 25 (IANS) Men's 400m hurdles world record holder Karsten Warholm is setting his sights on breaking another world record in the newly-introduced 300m hurdles at the 2025 Diamond League opener in Xiamen on Saturday.

"I skipped the indoor season to focus more on training, and I'm feeling really good and looking forward to racing in Xiamen," said Warholm at Friday's press conference.

The Norwegian aims to surpass his own 300m hurdles world record of 33.26 seconds in his first race of 2025, reports Xinhua. "The 300m hurdles is an event I really enjoyed for quite a while, a very nice distance to start the season off with, and it's a distance I often do in training. I did a world best some years ago, and I've been looking to better it."

Pole vault sensation Armand Duplantis said the city of Xiamen has 'a very special place' in his heart as he set a world record at the same event last year, clearing 6.24m. "It's an amazing stadium, amazing facility, a great track. I'm super excited to be back," he said. "I love competing here. If I can produce something [like the world record] again, that would be really cool."

Chinese sprinter Xie Zhenye will compete in the men's 100m against strong opponents, including reigning champion Christian Coleman and Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo. "I am so excited to compete against such high-level athletes. I'll do my best to give a good performance," the Asian 200m record holder said.

Another home favourite, Feng Bin, said she has come back to training just for a month due to injury. "It's going to be my debut this season and I will try my best," added the Olympic silver medalist in women's discus.

The 2025 Diamond League is the 16th season of the one-day track and field event and will comprise 15 meetings starting with the first one at Xiamen on April 29 and will culminate in the Diamond League Finals at Zurich on August 27 and 28.

Each meet in the 15-event calendar will comprise select disciplines from the 32 shortlisted, and from this year, each meeting will nominate 4 events (2 male and 2 female) to be Diamond+ Disciplines, which will have increased levels of prize money.

--IANS

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