Five More Global Champions Announced for Shanghai Diamond League

Published by the IAAF on April 29, 2014

Three Olympic gold medallists and two world champions are among the latest cluster of international stars added to the already glittering line-ups for the 2014 Shanghai Diamond League meeting on 18 May.

US hurdler Aries Merritt, multi-medalled sprinter Allyson Felix and Trinidad and Tobago javelin thrower Keshorn Walcott have joined the entry lists for the second meeting in the IAAF’s 2014 Diamond League calendar, while Russian high jumper Svetlana Shkolina and Czech javelin star Vítezslav Vesely are the latest Moscow world champions announced for the 10th anniversary of China’s leading international athletics meeting.

Merritt returns to Shanghai for the third year in succession to renew his rivalry with world champion David Oliver who was fourth in this meeting last year when Merritt pulled up at the second hurdle with a hamstring injury.

Having finished fourth here in 2012, the world record holder will be keen to make it third time lucky this year when he and Oliver face their US compatriot Ryan Wilson, the world silver medallist, and Russia’s European champion and Moscow bronze medallist Sergey Shubenkov in an event that is always one of the highlights of the Shanghai programme.

Merritt dominated the men’s sprint hurdles scene in 2012, taking the London Olympic and world indoor titles, dipping under 13 seconds 10 times and lowering the world record to 12.80. But he struggled to find form after his injury last summer and could only finish sixth in the Moscow World Championships final.