| Location: Khalifa International Stadium Date: Friday, 5 May |
| Coverage: Live on BBC Two, BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website & app from 17:00 BST |
Keely Hodgkinson, Dina Asher-Smith and Armand Duplantis are just a few of the global stars confirmed for the biggest Diamond League series yet.
The arrival of the outdoor season means athletics’ biggest names are gearing up for the prestigious one-day competition’s opening meeting of the year in Doha, Qatar, on Friday.
Returning for its 14th edition, the 2023 series will visit 14 cities in four continents over five months before September’s final in Eugene, Oregon.
Before then, there are also the World Championships in Budapest in August.
Here’s everything you need to know before the Diamond League curtain-raiser at the Khalifa International Stadium, live coverage of which begins at 17:00 BST on BBC Two.
Points, prizes and an extra fixture
Friday will mark the start of a season-long quest to be named Diamond League champion in one of 16 events, along with the $30,000 (£24,000) winners’ prize.
An extra fixture has been added to the calendar, with the first Diamond League event in China since 2019 confirmed at Shenzhen’s Bao’an Stadium.
Athletes will compete for points at 13 meetings, where $10,000 (£8,000) will be available to each winner, with the top-ranked performers earning a place at the Diamond League Final in Eugene on 16 and 17 September.
There are several tantalising match-ups in Doha, and in the sprints especially, with Britain’s former world 200m champion Asher-Smith set to race in a high-quality women’s 100m which also features Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson and American Sha’Carri Richardson.
The second meeting in Morocco is the first opportunity to take points in the men’s 100m and women’s 200m.
The last meeting before the World Championships takes place in London on 23 July, when Britain’s best will look to fine-tune their preparations at London Stadium before bidding for medals.
Who to watch out for?
In addition to Asher-Smith, world 800m silver medallist Hodgkinson and fellow Briton and 1500m world champion Jake Wightman have been announced for Diamond League meetings this summer.
All three are set to compete in Paris on 9 June, while Hodgkinson was the first headline name to be confirmed for London.
Along with Asher-Smith’s attempt to lay down an early season marker, another exciting race in Doha will see Olympic champion Andre de Grasse up against world 400m champion Michael Norman and world 100m champion Fred Kerley in the men’s 200m.
Pole vault world record holder Duplantis, 400m hurdles world champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Olympic 1500m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen have been confirmed for later dates.
Sweden’s Duplantis, who broke the world record for the sixth time in February, will aim to put on a show in Oslo on 15 June.
That meeting will also mark South Africa’s 400m world record holder Wayde van Niekerk’s return to the Diamond League for the first time since a career-threatening knee injury suffered during a celebrity touch rugby match in 2017.
McLaughlin-Levrone, who broke the women’s 400m hurdles record in winning world gold last year, has been announced for the penultimate event in Brussels, by which time she will hope to have successfully defended her world title.
Diamond League history could be made in 2023. Croatian discus thrower Sandra Perkovic will aim to win an outright record seventh title, while Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is only one behind Perkovic and retired New Zealand shot putter Valerie Adams after a stellar 2022 season.
What happened last year?
Fraser-Pryce broke a remarkable four Diamond League meeting records last year on the way to claiming her fifth trophy – and first since 2015 – in style.
It was part of a remarkable year for the 36-year-old, who won a record fifth women’s 100m world title – 14 years after her first.
Compatriot Shericka Jackson took the women’s 200m honours and American Noah Lyles claimed the men’s crown, while Trayvon Bromell triumphed in the men’s 100m – a Diamond League title which has not been successfully defended since 2015.
Kenya dominated the middle- and long-distance events with Mary Moraa, Emmanuel Korir and Faith Kipyegon among those to achieve overall success alongside Norway’s Ingebrigtsen.
Duplantis again proved unstoppable in the men’s pole vault, while 21-year-old Yaroslava Mahuchikh won the women’s high jump for Ukraine.
Italian Gianmarco Tamberi will face Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim in the men’s high jump after beating the man with whom he shared Olympic gold in 2021 to take last season’s crown.
2023 Diamond League calendar
5 May: Doha, Qatar
28 May: Rabat, Morocco
2 June: Florence, Italy
9 June: Paris, France
15 June: Oslo, Norway
30 June: Lausanne, Switzerland
2 July: Stockholm, Sweden
16 July: Silesia, Poland
21 July: Monaco
23 July: London, England
31 August: Zurich, Switzerland
2 September: Shenzhen, China
8 September: Brussels, Belgium
16-17 September: Eugene, Oregon, USA
