The Rabat Diamond League will play host to six Australians spearheaded by sprinter Bree Rizzo and middle-distance star Georgia Griffith, as the nation’s athletics resurgence faces one of its toughest tests yet in 2025 on the world’s premier athletics circuit.
The Rabat meeting is the fourth of 15 in the Wanda Diamond League Series in 2025, culminating with the final in Zurich prior to the World Athletics Championships. With the stream set to kick off at 4:00am AEST, Monday 26 May, Australian viewers can tune in live and free via the Diamond League YouTube channel.
Read on for a full preview of the Australian action awaiting in Rabat, Morocco. Full start lists can be found HERE.
20 stitches in his leg after a mishap in the warmup of last week’s Seiko Golden Grand Prix in Tokyo can’t stop Yual Reath (Mike Barber), who has declared himself ready for takeoff in Rabat.
Returning to the Diamond League circuit for the first time in 2025, Reath will face off with Olympic champion Hamish Kerr (NZL) and silver medalist Shelby McEwen (USA) in a capacity field of 12, with Reath’s career-best standing at 2.30m as the current world number 15.
Warming into his season with silver at the Australian Athletics Championships, the Ballarat landscaper will look to hit full flight on international soil as he eyes his second World Athletics Championships appearance this September.
Fresh off toppling reigning world champion Sha’Carri Richardson at last week’s Seiko Golden Grand Prix, Bree Rizzo (Ryan Hoffman) lines up for her individual Diamond League debut in Rabat, adding another milestone to her season that has already seen her win the Stawell Gift off scratch.
With a personal best of 11.23-seconds, the Australian concedes ground to her rivals of whom five have shattered the 11-second barrier, but Rizzo is running hot and will race with the confidence of her recent success.
New Zealand’s Zoe Hobbs also features in the field, which is led by Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson at 10.65-seconds.
World Championships bronze medallist Mackenzie Little (Angus McEntyre) is searching for her throwing groove in what is a long year, with the world number four awaiting a breakthrough to ignite her 2025 campaign.
Entering with a seasons best of 59.77m, Little’s rivals will be cautious of the Australian who is a proven global contender with her 66.27m personal best, with Rabat presenting a rare Diamond League competition without powerhouse and Olympic champion Haruka Kitaguchi (JPN).
A surging 5000m at the Shanghai Diamond League was a tough initiation for Jude Thomas (Collis Birmingham) at his debut, but the 23-year-old should be better suited to this 1500m in Rabat.
Buoyed by his win and personal best over 3000m at last week’s Seiko Golden Grand Prix, Thomas drops back down to the metric mile where he owns a 3:35.55 personal best from the Australian Athletics Championships, where he finished fourth.
Kenya’s Brian Komen (3:28.80) and France’s Azeddine Habz (3:29.26) headline the field of 19 on paper, with Thomas gaining an opportunity to back in his race craft and race prominently in the busy field before unleashing his finishing kick.
Already the Australian record holder with her 8:24.20 to win last year’s Oslo Diamond League, Georgia Griffith (Nic Bideau) has stamped herself as a contender in any global 3000m showdown.
Griffith has already punched in a fourth-place finish over 1500m at the World Indoor Championships and registered the fastest outdoor 1500m time in the world this year with 4:01.10 to win last week’s Continental Tour Gold meet in Tokyo, approaching Rabat with the benefit of races under her belt when stepping up to 3000m.
Ranked fourth in the field on personal best behind Olympic 5000m and 10,000m champion Beatrice Chebet (KEN), Ejgayehu Taye (ETH) and Janeth Chepngetich (KEN), the Australian will pick up the gauntlet thrown down by her East African rivals.
While no Diamond League points will be up for grabs in the Women’s 1500m as a pre program event, Sarah Billings (Nic Bideau) will be out to continue her fine form which has seen her already selected for the 2025 World Athletics Championships, taking on a field including seven other sub-four minute women headed by Kenya’s Nelly Chepchirchir at 3:56.14.
By Lachlan Moorhouse, Australian Athletics
Posted 23/5/2025
