Brussels Diamond League: 5 Kenyan Big Names Missing from 2026 Season-Finale

A shiny Diamond League Trophy and $30,000 (Ksh3.8 million) will be at stake during the 2026 Diamond League final in Brussels, Belgium on Friday and Saturday.

All eyes will be on the Belgian capital as the season ends and the top names have already landed ready for action.

While global figures like Noah Lyles, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Julien Alfred, Letsile Tebogo among others will light up the two-day event, Kenyans will not see some of their big names in action.

A host of top Kenyan athletes are set to miss the final due to different circumstances, robbing the nation a chance to win more trophies.

The biggest name in five-time Diamond League trophy winner Faith Kipyegon, whose season was cut short by a niggling hamstring injury.

The four-time world champion has been hampered since July and competed at Prefontaine Classic and in Paris through the pain but decided to take time out to fully recover instead of aggravating the injury with more competition.

This is the second straight year Kipyegon is missing the Diamond League final, having sat out 2025 as well, but on that occasion, she was focusing on her World Championships preparations.

Two-time Diamond League champion Beatrice Chebet is also sitting out the final for a second straight year.

While she missed in 2025 to focus on the World Championships, she will not be in Brussels because she recently became a mother.

Chebet, who won the Diamond League Trophy in 2022 and 2024, took a break from the track this year to focus on her motherhood journey and is expected back in 2027.

The two-time Olympic and world champion would have been hot favourite to win the 5,000m title had she featured.

Perhaps the one feeling the biggest disappointment, Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala was forced to pull out just days to the event after suffering a severe foot injury.

Omanyala was among the top names to contest for the 100m title, looking for his first-ever Diamond League trophy, but the latest setback has knocked him out.

The 2022 Commonwealth champion had sealed a ticket to the 2026 final after failing to qualify in 2025.

World 1,500m bronze medalist Reynold Cheruiyot will also not be in Brussels after failing to qualify over the distance.

Cheruiyot had a poor Diamond League series season, finishing fifth or worse in the 1,500m, and paid the ultimate price.

Mary Moraa, the 2022 and 2024 Diamond League champion in 800m, is also missing the final for a second year running.

Moraa has been out of form and dealt with a number of personal issues that have hampered her in the last two seasons.

She missed the 2025 final after a poor season and in 2026, she has not even run a single Diamond League race. She has her work cut out in 2027 if she has to make it to the final as well as the World Championships.