With the third edition of the Meeting International Mohammed VI d’Athlétisme in Rabat in the books, the Diamond League season is officially 20% complete. And while the early action on the circuit can sometimes struggle to attract all the big names, we still saw some familiar faces in Morocco. Valarie Sion won her 21st Diamond League discus competition. Kenny Bednarek looked supremely relaxed while dropping a 19.69 200m and blowing away a strong field. Yared Nuguse picked up the fifth DL win of his career in the 1500m, more than any other American distance runner. And of course, hometown hero Soufiane El Bakkali capped it all off with a win in the steeplechase, his sixth in nine years at this meet, running the second fastest time of his career in the process.

And yet, there were also notable absences. After two wins in China, Shericka Jackson skipped out on the 200m this time around, as did Masai Russell in the (non-DL) 100m hurdles. There’s no sign yet of Femke Bol or Keely Hodgkinson on the circuit, which takes some of the shine out of the 400H and 800m lineups but opens the door for other performers. And after dropping a sub-44 in Xiamen, World champ Collen Kebinatshipi wasn’t on the 400m start line this time around, which led to Jacory Patterson defending his title from last year and claiming his fourth career DL victory.

The glass-half-empty crew will look at this as a negative—in a year where regular-season racing should have greater emphasis, where are all the stars? It’s a valid point. But the silver lining of that half-empty mixed-metaphor glass is that Rabat was full of breakout performances from athletes who’ve been really, really good for a while but haven’t gotten their time to shine.

Over the last two seasons, Emma Zapletalova has improved her 400m hurdles PB from 54.28 to sub-53. The 26-year-old Slovakian secured a World bronze in Tokyo last September, finished second behind Bol in last year’s DL final, and holds the flat 400m national record for Slovakia as well as over the hurdles at 50.76. But until Sunday, she’d yet to pick up a Diamond League victory. Not only did she win in Rabat, she ran 52.82 to handily beat Anna Cockrell, set the world lead, and crack the top-20 all-time. For the front half of the 2020s, the Femke-Sydney dominance of the event pretty much sucked up all the air—Diamond League or otherwise—in the 400m hurdling room. But Zapletalova has been in the mix for a while now and that win felt long overdue.

Similarly, Swiss 800m phenom Audrey Werro had a breakout moment or two in 2025, most notably winning the DL final in front of a home crowd in Zurich. But she’s also done a lot of running in Keely Hodgkinson’s shadow. Werro finished second in two of the most consequential races of the indoor season: Hodgkinson’s record-setting run in France and the World Indoor final, where, of course, Keely again emerged victorious. You’d be excused if you missed the fact that, in the World final in Torun, Werro became only the second woman in 20 years to break 1:57 indoors… because, of course, she was a full second behind Keely’s 1:55.30 win.

But Werro is 22 years old and just opened up her outdoor season with a 1:56.56 win over Tsige Duguma and, just as notably, reigning World champ Lilian Odira. As an 800m runner, Werro is of the “go out really hard and hang on” variety, which can get you in trouble in championship-style races. But in the rabbited DL format where everyone wants to run fast, it’s got a much better success rate.

Speaking of… Odira wasn’t the only 800m World champ to fall in Rabat. Emmanuel Wanyonyi losing was probably even more surprising, given that his chief rival Marco Arop wasn’t in the race. Instead, it was 24-year-old Brit Max Burgin who got the better of him. It’s hard to say Burgin “sneak-attacked” the field, because he was out front from the gun, but that’s what it felt like. Burgin was the only guy to go with the rabbit as the rest of the field hung back, and by midway through the second lap when Wanyonyi started his move, the gap was too much to overcome.

Burgin was rewarded for his bravery with his second-career DL win, but his first since his breakout run in London in 2023. He’s one of those guys who may not be on the tip of most non-British fans’ tongues, but he’s been in the mix for a while now, finishing sixth at the Olympics in Paris and sixth in Tokyo last year. While he’s just 2-8 against Wanyonyi head-to-head, both of those wins came in Rabat as last year Burgin finished second to Wanyonyi’s third when both men lost to Tshepiso Masalela. Wanyonyi fans shouldn’t be too worried, however, as the Kenyan started last year with two 800m losses before picking up four wins in a row and, eventually, the World title.

The last, but certainly not least, first-time Diamond League winner was Cambrea Sturgis, who took the win in the 200m in 22.21. Shaunae Miller-Uibo was the pre-race favorite but got a very poor start and ended up fourth, which meant that Sturgis’s biggest competition ended up being fellow American Kayla White, who took second in 22.28. Sturgis, you may remember, was the 2021 NCAA champ over 100m and 200m, but since turning pro she hasn’t seen the same level of success. She’s only made a U.S. final once (finishing fourth in the 200m in 2022), and until this season she hadn’t run close to her 10.87/22.11 PBs in over three years.

But Sturgis has been on another level so far in 2026, finishing first or second in 11 of her 12 open races this season. She set a PB in the 200m at the Kip Keino Classic, running 21.93 on Gabby Thomas’s heels, and ran her fastest 100m in three years last weekend. She’s been on quite the Tour de Africa, as Morocco is the fifth country on the continent she’s raced in over the last two months. Now she’s won her first Diamond League meet, arguably the biggest win of her professional career to date.

The absence of other top athletes doesn’t diminish any of these performances by any means; it merely clears the way to appreciate excellence that’s been skimming just below the surface. Just as importantly, it adds new wrinkles to season-long narratives that could otherwise get a little repetitive. Next time Shericka Jackson or Keely Hodgkinson toes the line, they’ll be racing a rival that’s coming off the confidence and good vibes of a big win. And next time Cambrea Sturgis, Audrey Werro, or any of the other big winners out of Rabat take on the top dogs in their respective events, they’ll do so knowing without a doubt that they’ve got what it takes to contend.

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