Diamond League in Xiamen brings the first season appearances of Crouser and Valarie Sion
The athletics Diamond League continues on Saturday, May 23, 2026, in Xiamen, China, with the second meeting of the season after the opening event in Shanghai/Keqiao. According to the announcement by the Wanda Diamond League series organizers, American throwing standouts Ryan Crouser and Valarie Sion, previously known as Valarie Allman, will make their first season appearances in the diamond circuit in Xiamen. Their entry into the season is especially important because these are two athletes who have been setting the standards in the shot put and discus for years, disciplines in which the focus is often not only on winning the meeting but also on the overall standings toward the season finale.
The meeting in Xiamen comes only one week after the start of the season in China, and the official programme confirms that the main part of the competition will feature a series of events with strong international fields. Among them are the men’s shot put, women’s discus throw, men’s long jump, women’s high jump, races over 100 and 200 metres, 400 metres hurdles, 1500 and 5000 metres, and the 3000 metres steeplechase. According to the official meeting schedule, the competition also includes national races, but the greatest attention is attracted by the events that bring points for the Diamond League standings.
Crouser opens his diamond season in exceptionally strong competition
Ryan Crouser arrives in Xiamen as one of the most recognizable athletes of his generation. According to his World Athletics profile, Crouser is the current world record holder in the shot put with a mark of 23.56 metres, achieved on May 27, 2023, and a three-time Olympic champion. Such status makes him the leading name of the event, but the Xiamen competition will not be a formality. The official start lists state that Joe Kovacs, Leonardo Fabbri, Tom Walsh, Rajindra Campbell, Adrian Piperi, Jordan Geist, Roger Steen, Uziel Muñoz and Jialiang Xing are also among the entrants.
The duel between Crouser and Kovacs stands out in particular, because it is a rivalry that has marked a large part of the recent history of the shot put. Kovacs, also from the United States of America, has a personal best of 23.23 metres according to the published entries, while Italy’s Leonardo Fabbri is entered with a career best of 22.98 metres. New Zealander Tom Walsh, a long-time medal winner at the biggest competitions, enters the field with a personal best of 22.90 metres. This means that Xiamen already at the beginning of the season offers a level of competition usually associated with major finals.
For Crouser, the appearance will also be a test of form after a season in which the top of the shot put continues to broaden. In such circumstances, every series of throws carries additional weight, not only because of the placing but also because of the impression the throwers leave in their first international appearances. If the American is already close to his best distances in Xiamen, that will be a strong signal to the competition ahead of the rest of the season. If, however, the competition remains open until the final rounds, the audience will get an early indication of how evenly balanced the discipline is in 2026.
Valarie Sion leads the women’s discus and seeks to continue her dominance
In the women’s discus throw, the central name is Valarie Sion. World Athletics lists her in her profile as the leading discus thrower in the world rankings, a two-time Olympic champion, world champion and five-time winner of the Diamond League final. Her personal best is 73.52 metres, which is also the American and North American record. Such data explain why her appearance in Xiamen is one of the key moments of the meeting, even though it comes in the early part of the season.
According to the official entries, Sion faces a field in Xiamen that includes Jorinde van Klinken, Laulauga Tausaga, Feng Bin, Veronica Fraley, Shanice Craft, Cierra Jackson, Silinda Moráles, Erika Beistle and Vanessa Kamga. Dutch athlete van Klinken is entered with a personal best of 70.99 metres, and American Tausaga with 70.72 metres. Chinese representative Feng Bin, a world champion from an earlier cycle of major competitions, awaits her appearance in front of the home crowd with a personal best of 69.12 metres.
For Valarie Sion, Xiamen also has broader competitive significance. In the Diamond League system, the discus throw carries points toward the final, and early appearances often determine the rhythm of the season. Discus throwers must adapt to changing conditions, travel and different stadiums, so the advantage can belong to the competitor who already shows consistency in series in May. In recent years, Sion has built her advantage precisely in that area: not only in individual top-class throws, but in the ability to deliver a sufficiently long series for victory at major competitions and meetings.
Xiamen as the second step of the season after the opening in Shanghai/Keqiao
The 2026 Diamond League opened on May 16 in Shanghai/Keqiao, and according to the Olympics.com report it was the first of fourteen meetings before the finale in Brussels. Xiamen is therefore the second Chinese meeting in a row and an important continuation of the introductory part of the season. Such a schedule allows athletes to test their form in a short period in a similar time zone, but it also creates additional pressure because points for the final are collected from the first appearances.
In their Xiamen preview, the Diamond League organizers also highlighted other major names. According to the official announcement, the programme includes athletes such as Cordell Tinch, Letsile Tebogo and Karsten Warholm, who will seek better performances in Xiamen after results in the opening part of the season. This means that the meeting is not focused only on the throwing events, but brings a broad cross-section of top-level athletics, from sprints to middle and long distances and technical events.
The men’s 400 metres hurdles race will attract particular attention because Karsten Warholm, Alison dos Santos, Abderrahman Samba and Kyron McMaster are among the entrants. These are athletes who have shaped the top of the event in recent years and whose head-to-head duels often bring world-class results. In the men’s 100 metres, among others, Trayvon Bromell, Christian Coleman, Ferdinand Omanyala, Kenneth Bednarek, Akani Simbine and Letsile Tebogo are entered. Such a line-up gives Xiamen the status of one of the stronger early-season sprint meetings.
The schedule brings a fast rhythm and several highlights in the closing part of the programme
According to the official programme of the Xiamen meeting, the men’s shot put begins in the early phase of the main programme, while the women’s discus is placed in the part of the evening in which some of the most attractive races are also taking place in parallel. Such a schedule means that the attention of the audience and the broadcast will shift between the throwing area, jumping area and track, which is usual for the Diamond League format. For spectators this brings a dense programme, but for athletes and their coaches it requires precise planning of warm-ups and competition routines.
The women’s discus is particularly interesting because it brings together different profiles of competitors: Olympic and world champions, throwers with long international experience and athletes seeking a breakthrough toward the very top. In such fields, the first round often sets the tone of the competition. A long early throw can force rivals to take risks, while a stable series of attempts is sometimes worth more than a single result if conditions change.
In the shot put, the dynamic is different, but equally demanding. Crouser is known for his technical precision and ability to produce the biggest throws under pressure, while his opponents often try to open the competition aggressively in order to change the rhythm. Fabbri and Walsh can threaten already with their first valid throw, and Kovacs has shown several times throughout his career that he remains dangerous until the final round. For that reason, the Xiamen shot put clash carries weight far greater than that of an ordinary early-season appearance.
Why the throwing events in Xiamen are especially important
Throwing events in the Diamond League often have a different dynamic from sprint races because form does not depend only on speed and competitive feeling, but also on technical stability, strength, recovery and conditions in the competition area. In the shot put and discus, small disruptions in rhythm can mean the difference between an average and a winning result. That is why the early appearances of Crouser and Sion are important indicators, but they do not necessarily have to provide the final picture of the entire season.
Still, the results from Xiamen could have a psychological effect. A victory against a strong field at the beginning of the season brings points, confidence and the possibility of planning later appearances with less pressure. On the other hand, a weaker start to the season does not have to be decisive, but it can force athletes and coaches into quick adjustments. That is exactly why not only the winners are closely followed, but also the distances of the throws, the number of valid attempts and the gap among the leaders.
For the hosts, the appearance of Chinese athletes is also important. In the women’s discus, Feng Bin has the status of one of the strongest home representatives, and Jialiang Xing is entered in the men’s shot put. Chinese meetings have had an increasingly important role in the global athletics calendar in recent years, and strong start fields further strengthen Xiamen’s position as a regular stop in the international season. In combination with the opening meeting in Shanghai/Keqiao, China in May gets an important block of competitions in which the early picture of the Diamond League standings is shaped.
The season leads toward the final in Brussels
According to the calendar published by the Diamond League, the 2026 season after Xiamen continues with the meeting in Rabat, followed by European and world stops including Rome, Stockholm, Oslo, Doha, Paris, Eugene, Monaco, London, Lausanne, Silesia and Zürich. The finale is scheduled for Brussels at the beginning of September. In such a system, every appearance has value because qualification for the final is not built with one result, but with a series of stable performances over several months.
For Ryan Crouser and Valarie Sion, Xiamen is therefore more than a first appearance in the Diamond League season. It is a test of competition, rhythm and preparation for the competitive part of the year in which the biggest names will be expected to remain constantly capable of top-level results. For their rivals, Xiamen is an opportunity to show already at the beginning of the season that the hierarchy is not locked in advance. If the throwing fields meet expectations, the Chinese meeting could provide one of the first major answers to the question of who enters the 2026 season with the greatest certainty.
Sources:
- Wanda Diamond League – official preview and start lists for the Xiamen meeting (link)
- Wanda Diamond League Xiamen – official programme and meeting results (link)
- World Athletics – Ryan Crouser profile and personal best in the shot put (link)
- World Athletics – Valarie Sion profile and data on personal best and world ranking (link)
- Olympics.com – results and context of the opening of the 2026 Diamond League season in Shanghai/Keqiao (link)