Record bonuses will offer added incentives for athletes at Jetour Doha Diamond League meeting: Barshim
Tribune News Network
Doha
At a packed press conference ahead of the 2025 Jetour Doha Meeting (Friday 16 May), Qatar star and former Olympic high jump champion Mutaz Barshim spoke on behalf of everyone in the room when he said, 'It's important that we take care of the athletes.'
A great ambassador for the sport and his country, the 33-year-old launched his own innovative event in 2024 - the 'What Gravity Challenge' - bringing together a group of the world's best high jumpers at the spectacular Katara Amphitheatre in Doha. The successful second edition of the event, which included men and women for the first time, took place on 9 May.
On this occasion he was talking about the $5000 bonus payments on offer to athletes who set new meeting records at the 2025 Diamond League event in his home city: 'Track and field isn't an easy job,' he said, 'It's tough out there and when it comes to the financial part of the sport you can be fourth or fifth in the world and you might still need a job (when you retire). Change is good and we're moving in the right direction.'
Barshim, a multiple Olympic medallist, won an unprecedented third successive global title with victory at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene 2022. He will target 'one more medal' at this year's World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, before the Asian Games in 2026, an event which is very close to his heart.
The issue that sadly kept him out of his own meeting last week will potentially keep him out of tomorrow's showpiece, but his commitment to the sport and his supporters was clear.
'I want to jump at home, this is the place I care about most,' he said. 'It was a really difficult moment not to be able to jump last week, and it's the same again here. We have responsibilities in this sport and we put our bodies on the line and part of that means injuries. If you don't push yourself to the limit you don't know how far you can go.'
Joining Barshim on the top table were Katie Moon (USA), Letsile Tebogo (BWA), Hamish Kerr (NZL) and Neeraj Chopra (IND).
Still at the start of his promising career, Olympic champion Kerr admitted he grew up watching and supporting Barshim.
'To see him lead the way in our sport is inspiring,' he said of his friend and rival.
'The high jump is very open right now and for me, at this time, it's about learning from each competition and building. Physically I'm in really good shape but I've not yet been able to fully connect, but that's what's so good about having these chances to compete.' 28-year-old Kerr won the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships with a national record and Oceania best of 2.36m, upgrading his 2022 bronze. He matched that height in Paris, winning Olympic gold after a jump-off. The Commonwealth champion most recently finished second in the 2025 World Indoors.
Like the men's high jump, the women's pole vault is equally competitive.
'On any given day there are several of us who can walk away with a win and it keeps me motivated to stay on top of my game,' said Moon, the 2021 Olympic champion and two-time world champion (Eugene 2022 and Budapest 2023) who won silver in Paris last summer.
'I'm feeling great,' she continued. 'This is the best string of training I've put together the last couple of years. I felt really good this indoor season and so far, knock on wood, it's been really good. Having jumped here in the past it's a great runway and perfect conditions and I'm very excited. I really love jumping here.'
The Doha meeting record for the women's pole vault is 4.84m (Sandi Morris, USA, 2018 and 2021).
'If I jump that this early it would be huge (from a confidence-perspective),' said Moon.
'The money is just an added bonus.' There is a good chance Olympic champion Tebogo could break the meeting record for the 200m.
Currently 19.67 by Kenny Bednarek in 2024, Tebogo - a world 100m silver and 200m bronze medallist in 2023 - is more than capable. He clocked an area record of 19.46 to take victory in Paris and in doing so made history by claiming his country's first Olympic gold medal in any sport. It was the fastest time in the world in 2024 and moved him to fifth on the world all-time list.
'A good performance would be to finish healthy,' he said, modestly.
Of all the Doha meeting records, the men's javelin mark of 93.90m (Thomas Rohler, GER, 2019) is arguably the toughest to conquer. 'It's the Diamond League record so it's very hard!' laughed 2024 Olympic javelin silver medallist Chopra.
Chopra is the reigning world and Asian Games champion and is India's national record holder with a best of 89.94m. He made history in Tokyo when he became the country's first Olympic gold medallist in track and field and that trend continued at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest when he became the first athlete from India to strike gold.
As the press conference drew to a close, it was Barshim, fittingly, that had the last laugh.
The men's high jump meeting record in Doha - which is his, of course - is 2.40m. As conversation turned to what was possible tomorrow night, and who might leave with the $5000 bonus payments, he turned to young pretender Kerr and smiled; 'If you jump 2.41m, I'll triple that for you!!'.
A challenge or a gift. Time will tell.
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