Inside the Diamond League with Callum Davies

Fresh off winning two Australian titles in two days, it would have been easy for Callum Davies to deem Diamond League pacing duties a step backwards. Tasked with running 2:30 through 1000m in Doha, the 23-year-old proceeded to split 2:30.01 and gain invaluable insight within the walls of the world’s premier athletics series – fuelling the fire for 2023.

Davies’ season trajectory speaks volumes to his nature. Racing in the form of his life after clinching the national 1500m and 5000m titles last month, the calculated operator parked his ego to see the benefit in the opportunity presented to him – a unique entry point to the Diamond League series.

As a student of the game, Davies has watched more Diamond League meetings than he could count. The Queenslander possesses extensive knowledge of athletes and statistics, but upon arriving in Doha quickly became part of the machine.

“All the runners you see on TV at the Olympics, World Champs or Diamond League, they don’t look at you any differently - you are just another competitor to them. It was surreal to start with but it was pretty easy to feel like part of it all,” Davies said.  

A finalist over 1500m at the 2018 World Under 20 Championships in Finland, Davies is no stranger to the customs of an international track and field experience, but was quickly impressed by the hospitality in Doha ranging from the hotel to the expansive dining hall and punctual shuttle buses:

“I’ve never seen something like that at a hotel before. There were seven or eight different mains, salads, dips, snacks – literally everything you could want.

“Everyone was really relaxed and chatting. Not everyone mingled but you would just sit with people from other countries that you had connections with, it was really cool to see how everyone knew Stewy [Stewart McSweyn] and Rambo [Matthew Ramsden].”

Receiving two days’ notice after the technical meeting that he would be required to run 1200m at 2:30 pace per kilometre, Davies dialled in his preparation and soon found himself in sitting the call room with the likes of reigning Olympic champions Selemon Barega and Soufaine El Bakkali.

“Once I was in the call room, it was definitely a bit different. I was looking at all these people and they were looking at me like who are you? Who is this guy pacing us?” Davies said.

“I knew I could do it, it was just about executing it. But [Soufiane] El Bakkali came up to me and gave me a big high five and said good luck, and I was just thinking ‘for what? Does he know something I don’t?”

Nailing his job when splitting 2:30.01 through 1000m before stepping off on the in-field at 1200m as the race was won by Lamecha Girma in a world-leading 7:26.18, the eighth fastest time in history, Davies breathed a sigh of relief as he started to process his first Diamond League experience.

“One of the officials came over and took me to the outside of the track. The second pacer, a Kenyan guy joined us and he was a character. He was happy because I think he ran a 2km PB,” Davies said.

“I definitely wanted to be competing with those people. On the startline you look around and see Olympic champions, world record holders and I was just like – I’m here. I might have just been pacing but it’s definitely something I want to do in the future,” Davies said.

The metric miler is now basing in Teddington as he prepares for the first race of his European campaign, where the 3:37.78-man over 1500m will launch his bid for a berth at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest:

“Obviously the World Championships would be nice. If I continue progressing the way I am, I know I’m a chance, but my main focus is on learning how to race over here and how the whole system works. Sometimes at home we give each other a little bit too much respect, you let people do what they want to do but over here no one cares – it’s a completely different style of racing,” Davies said.

A replay of the 2023 Doha Diamond League can be found HERE. 

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 12/5/2023