By David Melly
May 21, 2025
Last week, we asked ourselves and our readers five questions in advance of the Doha Grand Prix:
- Does SAFP still have the juice? TBD.
- Can Tebogo start moving faster? TBD. He won, but barely got out of second gear to clock a 20.10 victory 0.01 seconds over Courtney Lindsey.
- Will we see a women’s steeple WR? No—and Olympic champ Winfred Yavi got beat!
- Will anyone break 70 meters in the discus? No—Matty Denny won in 68.97m.
- Who’s the best women’s pole vaulter right now? In Doha, it was Brit Molly Caudery.
Full results can be found here, but one event still worth unpacking a few days later is the men’s javelin, where Julian Weber and reigning World champion Neeraj Chopra waged a battle for the ages. After breaking 89 meters seven times earlier in his career, Chopra finally cleared the 90-meter barrier for the first time ever with a huge 90.23m effort in the third round, and seemed to have the competition locked up. Until Weber improved to 89.84m on his fifth throw and then 91.06m in an epic final-round haul. Weber has finished fourth in three of his last four global finals, so maybe this is an early sign he can finally crack the podium in 2025.
Heading into Sunday’s Diamond League competition in Rabat, here are a few more questions on our minds:
Can Shericka Jackson recapture the magic?
Jackson has had an underwhelming start to 2025 thus far, clocking runner-up finishes in her first two races of the outdoor season (a 200m in Xiamen and a 300m in Miami) and a couple unremarkable relay legs in Guangzhou. More hater-oriented track fans may be wondering if the 30-year-old who battled injuries in 2024 has lost a step… and a decisive win in Rabat would be a great way to shut them up.
The field isn’t crazy strong for a DL—she’ll have to contend with Bree Rizzo, who beat Sha’Carri et al in Japan, and Jacious Sears, who had a great indoor season but has clocked fairly middling performances in two GST meets thus far. Even if Shericka does come away with the win, her performance won’t be measured against the competition – it’ll be stacked up against the likes of Julien Alfred, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, and others hoping to keep the more decorated Jamaicans off the podium for good.
Will Erriyon Knighton push Letsile Tebogo to the line?
The picture that seems to be emerging around Letsile Tebogo is that he’s healthy and fit, but not exactly eager to unleash many 100% efforts so early in the season. But he’ll have his hands full with Olympic fourth-placer Erriyon Knighton, also the sixth-fastest man in history over 200m. Knighton’s first outdoor 200m of the season practically doubles as the African championships, as South Africans Benjamin Richardson and Wayde van Niekerk are entered as well as Joe Fahnbulleh of Liberia alongside Tebogo.
How low can Beatrice Chebet go?
Beatrice Chebet is the 10,000m world record holder, the double Olympic champion, and a World XC champion, but her 8:24.05 3000m PB puts her 36th on the all-time list. Nevertheless, she’s gotta be considered the favorite in the Rabat 3000m, given her blazing-fast closing speed and demonstrated fitness in the 5000m in Xiamen. The more intriguing question is whether rivals like Ejgayehu Taye, Medina Eisa, and Nadia Battocletti can help push her to a fast time in the shorter distance event. The world record is likely unassailable, given that Wang Junxia’s 8:06.11 is still officially, albeit ludicrously, on the books. But Genzebe Dibaba’s 8:16.60, the fastest mark run outside a very questionable 1993 race in China, feels like an achievable target.
What’s Femke Bol been up to lately?
The second-best 400m hurdler in the world is usually no stranger to racing early and often while her chief rival, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, typically takes the opposite approach—but this year, Bol has only one weekend of racing on her card so far with a relay performance at the European Indoor championships and SML is busy on the Grand Slam circuit. Bol and her coach have attributed the difference in schedule to a much-needed rest rather than any particular injury issue, so it’ll be a bit intriguing to see what kind of form she shows up to Rabat with in her first open race of the season.
Bol will likely emerge victorious, as she only lost one 400H race all year (the Olympic final), and neither woman who beat her—McLaughlin-Levrone and Anna Cockrell—is on the start list. But how fast she runs, and whether she betters SML’s 52.07 world lead, will help set the narrative for another exciting year of racing.
Who comes out on top of a stacked shot put field?
Ryan Crouser won’t be making the trip to Morocco, but the second through sixth placers from last year’s Olympic final will be competing head to head, led by silver medalist Joe Kovacs in his season opener and current world leader Leo Fabbri. Payton Otterdahl prevailed in the inaugural World Shot Put Series competition, and he’ll likely be eager to prove that he can get on top in any sort of meet format.
All these questions will be answered—hopefully —starting at 2pm E.T. on Sunday, May 25. U.S. viewers can stream online if they shell out for a subscription, or on YouTube for most international viewers (full info here).
David Melly
David began contributing to CITIUS in 2018, and quickly cemented himself as an integral part of the team thanks to his quick wit, hot takes, undying love for the sport and willingness to get yelled at online.
