2019 Diamond League debut for Starc

After a strong opening to the 2019 Diamond League season in Doha, the elite athletics circuit heads to its only Asian stop, when on Saturday evening Chinese city Shanghai hosts the series. Four Aussies will compete, Brandon Starc, Kelsey Barber, Georgia Griffith and Morgan Mitchell.

Much interest surrounds Brandon Starc’s high jump debut. The reigning Diamond League high jump champion, just one of four Aussies to have achieved that feat (along with Mitchell Watt, Fabrice Lapierre and Sally Pearson) is not coming off his usual busy domestic season, after just one outing at the Queensland Track Classic in March. 

Only two athletes cleared higher than Starc in 2018 and they are not starting in Shanghai, however his main competition is likely to be joint world leaders in 2019 Michael Mason (CAN) and Majed El Dein Ghazal (SYR), who have both negotiated 2.31m this year.

Contesting the women’s javelin is Australia’s two-time Commonwealth Games medallists, Kelsey Barber. Despite a late world championships, this event is already on the move in 2019, with four athletes already over 65 metres, lead by China’s Lu Huihui with 67.72m. Barber has been in good consistent form this year with three marks of 62.65m, 62.00m and 63.33m. She is ranked seventh in the world in 2019 and has three of those ahead of her in the field in Shanghai. With the Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualification window now open, 64.00m will be another target on Barber’s radar.

Making her Diamond League debut is Georgia Griffith in the women’s 1500m. The half-mile specialist made just one journey over the longer distance in 2019, when she won the Australian University Games meet in April, in 4:10.52. Anything near her 4:04 PB, set at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, will make her competitive. European 5000m champion Sifan Hassan (HOL) will start favourite on Saturday night, but she and the field will be relying on an Australian to help them clock a good time, with half-miler Morgan Mitchell responsible for the early pace. Mitchell is coming off a successful domestic season where she graduated to 800m, closing the summer with a bronze medal and PB of 2:01.60 at the national championships.

First event on Saturday night is 6.10pm – with Shanghai two hours behind AEST.

The event is being replayed on Eurosport Australia at 7:00am Sunday 19 May AEST. 

David Tarbotton for Athletics Australia