4 Kenyans Secure Ksh3.9M Diamond League Final Slots as Faith Kipyegon, Ferdinand Omanyala and Mary Moraa Race Against Time

The race for the 2025 Diamond League final is on and with four series meetings to go before the season finale in Zurich, who are the Kenyans who have booked their tickets?

As the Diamond League season gets to the homestretch, four Kenyan athletes have already secured their tickets to the final set to take place in Zurich, Switzerland on August 27.

This year’s Diamond League season will conclude before the World Championships and with four more legs remaining in London, Silesia, Lausanne and Brussels, Faith Cherotich, Beatrice Chebet, Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Edmund have already qualified for the Zurich final.

Cherotich has secured 31 points in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase to lead the table ahead of Olympics champion Winfred Yavi of Bahrain (22 points), Ethiopian Sembo Almayew (16 points) and Ugandan Peruth Chemutai (15 points), all who have qualified from the distance.

PAY ATTENTION: Stay updated with the Latest Sports News in Kenya from Pulse Sports

Chebet, who shattered the 5,000m world record in Eugene, is at the top of the leaderboard with 32 points, nearly twice as much as second-placed Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia (17 points), having won all her races this year, with only the two East African athletes having sealed their places in the Diamond League final.

Who Else Has Secured A Diamond League Final Slot?

Olympics 800m champion Wanyonyi, who has won his last three Diamond League races in Oslo, Stockholm and Monaco, leads the distance with 30 points and is the only male 800m athlete who has sealed his ticket to the final with American Josh Hoey (20 points), Algerian Djamel Sedjati (19 points) closing in while world champion Marco Arop, who has just four points, has a lot of work to do.

Meanwhile, Serem is among three 3,000m steeplechase male runners who have already booked their tickets as he leads a tight race with 24 points, one ahead of Olympics and world champion Sofiane El Bakkali from Morocco, while Samuel Firewu of Ethiopia, who has 19 points, has also qualified.

African’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala is among 100m runners who are closing in on a ticket to the final as he has 20 points, same as Cameroonian Emmanuel Eseme, while South Africa’s Akani Simbine leads with 24 points.

Olympics silver medalist Kishane Thompson (15 points), Americans Trayvon Bromell and Brandon Hicklin, both on 14 points, and Fred Kerley (10 points), are also closing in, same as Letsile Tebogo, who has eight points.

More Work For Faith Kipyegon, Worry For Mary Moraa

Five-time 1,500m Diamond League Trophy winner Faith Kipyegon, who also shattered the world record in Eugene, still as plenty of work to do as she only has eight points from her one race, with Sarah Healy (17 points), and Kenyan compatriots Nelly Chepchirchir and Susan Ejore following with 16 and 12 points respectively while in the men’s equivalent, Kenyans Timothy Cheruiyot and Reynold Cheruiyot, 14 points each, are closing in as they trail leader Azzedine Habz of France, who has 19 points.

For Mary Moraa, who claimed her second Diamond League Trophy last year, there is plenty of work and also a worry that she might miss out on the final altogether after a poor season in series meetings so far.

Moraa has seven points from her three races in Stockholm, Eugene and Monaco, having finished second, ninth and 12th, which is unlike her, and she needs to massively improve with Ethiopian Tsige Duguma leading with 24 points, Prudence Sekgodiso, second with 20 points, while Britain’s Addison Wiley completes the top three with 19 points.

Winners at the Zurich Diamond League final will each pocket $30,000 (Ksh3.9 million) while 100m men, 1,500m men, 400m hurdles men, pole vault men, 100m women, 100m hurdles women, 3,000m women, long jump women and the Diamond League + Discipline events that will attract an improved prize money of $50,000 (Ksh6.5 million) in the Swiss city.