Some of the biggest stars in global athletics are set to light up the women’s events at the Shanghai Diamond League meeting in Keqiao on Saturday, May 16. Reigning world champions Faith Kipyegon, Ditaji Kambundji, Faith Cherotich and Jessica Schilder are among the leading names in action, with several mouth-watering clashes in store.
The women’s 200m is loaded with star quality, featuring two-time world champion Shericka Jackson, 2023 world 100m champion Sha’Carri Richardson, two-time Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo and last year’s world 200m silver medallist Amy Hunt.
Also in the field are Anavia Battle, who claimed 200m victory in Shanghai/Keqiao last year before finishing fourth in the world final, along with fellow US sprinters McKenzie Long – a 200m finalist at Paris 2024 and Tokyo 2025 – and Jenna Prandini, who recently showed strong form with a sub-11-second 100m.
The women’s 400m will serve up an exciting early-season clash between Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Naser, who has a best of 48.14, and Jamaica’s Nickisha Pryce, who has run 48.57. Naser was world 400m champion in 2019 and claimed Olympic silver in Paris two years ago, also taking bronze in the 2025 world final, while Pryce, the 2024 NCAA champion, was also a world finalist last year in Tokyo.
Two-time world bronze medallist Sada Williams is also in the field, along with last year’s NCAA 400m champion Aaliyah Butler and 2025 world finalist Roxana Gómez.
The 100m hurdles will feature a loaded line-up, bringing together the past four global outdoor champions – Ditaji Kambundji, Masai Russell, Danielle Williams and Tobi Amusan – along with three-time world indoor champion Devynne Charlton.
Amusan and Russell are the two fastest women in history in the event, with respective bests of 12.12 and 12.17, while Kambundji ran her Swiss record of 12.24 to win the world title last year in Tokyo. They’ll be joined by two other athletes with personal bests of 12.24 – 2025 Diamond League champion Ackera Nugent and Tonea Marshall – along with Jamaica’s Megan Simmonds and China’s Wu Yanni.
The women’s 5000m will see Kenyan superstar Faith Kipyegon – a seven-time global champion at 1500m – step up to the distance at which she also claimed a world title in 2023. Kipyegon has since won Olympic and world silver medals over 5000m and she will face a strong line-up in Shanghai/Keqiao. It includes two-time world U20 champion Medina Eisa of Ethiopia and her compatriots Hirut Meshesha, a world indoor 1500m medallist in 2022, and Likina Amebaw.
The women’s 1500m is headlined by world silver medallist Dorcus Ewoi and Olympic silver medallist Jessica Hull, who won bronze in last year’s world final. Hull will be joined by fellow Australians Sarah Billings, Linden Hall, Claudia Hollingsworth and Abbey Caldwell, while two-time world indoor medallist Emily MacKay is another leading contender, along with Ethiopia’s Birke Haylom.
The women’s 3000m steeplechase will feature three global champions in Faith Cherotich of Kenya, Norah Jeruto of Kazakhstan and Peruth Chemutai of Uganda.
Chemutai, who won Olympic gold in 2021 and silver in Paris two years ago, has the quickest PB at 8:48.03, with Cherotich, the reigning world champion, just behind with 8:48.71. Also in the field are Tunisia’s Marwa Bouzayani, who was fourth in last year’s world final, and France’s Alice Finot, the reigning European champion who was fourth in the 2024 Olympic final.
The women’s shot put will feature a slew of stars, including two-time world outdoor champion Chase Jackson, who recently added the world indoor title; reigning world outdoor champion Jessica Schilder; two-time world indoor champion Sarah Mitton; and reigning Olympic champion Yemisi Ogunleye. US duo Jaida Ross and Maggie Ewen are also in the field and have thrown beyond 20 metres, along with China’s Song Jiayuan, who claimed bronze at the 2024 Olympics.
The women’s long jump will bring together eight women who have jumped beyond 6.90m, including two who have gone over seven metres: Larissa Iapichino of Italy and Lex Brown of the US.
Brown has the longest jump of 2026 to date with the 7.07m PB she jumped in Florida last month, just ahead of Iapichino’s PB from last year of 7.06m. Iapichino showed strong form in recent months by winning silver at the World Indoors in Poland.
Colombia’s Natalia Linares won bronze in that final, adding to her bronze from last year’s world outdoor final, and she will also be on the runway in Shanghai/Keqiao. USA’s Claire Bryant, the 2025 world indoor champion, is also in the field along with compatriots Quanesha Burks and Monae’ Nichols and Sweden’s Khaddi Sagnia.
The meeting in Shanghai/Keqiao is the opening event of the 2026 Wanda Diamond League, which culminates with a two-day series final in Brussels on September 4-5.