The Diamond League makes its second stop on Sunday in Shanghai, with top milers, steeplers, and two of the best high jumpers in history highlighting the entry list in China. If you’re planning on watching the action tomorrow, you’ll have to wake up early, as the broadcast starts at 6am CT here in the States. It will be worth it, trust me. 

 

Here are the events to watch in Shanghai:

 

Men’s 1500m

Fast rising Ben Blankenship gets another chance to prove that he can hang with the best milers in the world on Sunday in Shanghai. Team USA’s DMR World record-breaking anchor will face the best that Kenya has to offer in the 1500, minus Asbel Kiprop, who ran the 800 in Doha. This is the deepest race that Blankenship has ever run in, truly his first real Diamond League experience outside of the B race at Pre. Expect Blankenship’s 3:35 PB, which he ran this past indoor season, to come tumbling down.

 

A sub-3:30 pace is guaranteed for this loaded group that features 3:27 man Silas Kiplagat, the reigning Diamond Race winner. The 25-year-old Kenyan opened his 2014 campaign last May by running 3:29.70, the second-fastest time ever run before July, behind only Kiprop (who won that race in 3:29.18). With his masterful 3:27.64 PB from Monaco last July still fresh on everyone’s mind, Kiplagat enters Shanghai as the favorite. 

Plenty of Kiplagat’s Kenyan teammates will join him in this race, including sub-3:50 milers James Magut, Collins Cheboi, and sub 3:30 1500m performer Nixon Chepseba. Magut also had a fast debut in Doha last May, running 3:30.61. Look for one of these three to challenge Kiplagat for the win. 

 

Men’s High Jump 

Two of the greatest leapers that the world has ever seen will kick off their highly anticipated seasons in Shanghai. Ukraine’s Bogdan Bondarenko and Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim had several classic duels in the Diamond League last summer, and the expectation is for these men to go even higher in a season that culminates with the World Championships in Beijing.

 

The 23-year-old Barshim became the second-highest jumper in history last September in Brussels, skyrocketing to 2.43m to lock up the hotly contested Diamond Race against Bondarenko. Barshim jumped 2.41 indoors this past February, breaking the Asian record, and just nearly missing on a World-record attempt of 2.44m. 

Barshim's 2.41m Asian Record from February:

These men are focused not just on beating each other, but also on Javier Sotomayor’s 22-year-old World record (2.45m), which they both are eager to take down before the other. The record may not fall this early in the season, but like in 2014, expect quite a few attempts at Sotomayor’s hallowed height before the story is written on Shanghai. 

 

Women’s 100m

2014 World-leader Tori Bowie looks to make an early season statement against the likes of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Veronica Campbell-Brown in the women’s 100m. Bowie ran a stunning World-leading 10.80 in Monaco last July, demolishing the aforementioned Jamaicans, who each have multiple Olympic gold medals to their name. 

 

Bowie is still on unproven entity on the international stage, having never competed at the Olympics or World Championships. A victory for the 24-year-old in Shanghai over these legends would be another sign that she is ready to compete for medals, and establish herself as the new generation of American sprinting. The World-lead of 10.92 will go down, and Tori Bowie will be the one to do it. 

 

Men’s 3000m Steeplechase

A matchup of the second-fastest steepler of all-time and the most dominant athlete of 2014 looms in Shanghai. Kenyans Brimin Kipruto and Jairus Birech are each members of the sub-8 steeple club, an illustrious group which only has 11 members. 

 

Kipruto was the 2008 Olympic champion, and ran 7:53.64 in 2011 to become the second-best all-time. Kipruto had a promising start to his 2014 campaign when he opened with an 8:04 last May, but he never ran faster than 8:11 in his six other races. 

 

Birech was completely dominant in the steeple last season, winning nine times and being the only man to break 8, his 7:58.41 in Brussels. The 22-year-old only lost three times in 2014, with one of those coming at the Commonwealth Games to countryman Jonathan Ndiku, who will also compete in Shanghai. 

That race was an anomaly, however, as Birech routinely won Diamond League steeples by 5-10 seconds in 2014. Expect the young Kenyan to run something near 8:05 and make easy work of this talented field.

The Diamond League- Shanghai starts tomorrow morning at 6am CT for American viewers.