Faith Kipyegon, Mary Moraa, Ferdinand Omanyala and other athletes have a reason to be excited as the Diamond League Meeting organisers have announced an increase in prize money to the highest level in the history of the event.
In a meeting held by the ly on Sunday, the relevant stakeholders concluded that the money will be increased to $ 9,240,000 starting next season. This amount is a huge boost to the athletes as it is almost a third higher than the amount disbursed from 2019 to 2024. It is also the highest ever since the Diamond League’s launch in 2010.
Promotional fees for have also been looked into and a total of around $ 18 million will be paid to athletes in 2025. Other millions will be channelled to the athletes’ logistics including travel, transport, accommodation and medical and physio provision.
Most athletes have already closed their seasons and given their ratings but Mary Moraa is still reluctant to give an overall reaction to her season as she looks to achieve one more milestone.
In each meeting, $ 500,000 will be set aside for the top finishers with $ 2,240,000 set aside for the Wanda Diamond League Final. From the meeting, organisers also agreed that the total prize money for each discipline will be between $ 30,000 and $ 50,000 in the normal series and between $ 60,000 and $ 100,000 in the Diamond League Meeting final.
The prize money structure applies to male and female athletes and it was noted that the increase will be for the 32 Diamond Disciplines.
“The Wanda Diamond League remains committed to rewarding the athletes more, whilst at the same time ensuring the long term sustainability of the series, so it continues to provide vital competition to the athletes for many more years to come,” said Petr Stastny, the CEO of AG.
“In an ever-changing landscape in the sports, media and entertainment world, we have always been on the forefront of innovation in our sport of athletics. Featuring a total of 32 disciplines over each season, we provide the world’s best athletes the opportunity to compete at the highest possible level. Having competitors from around 100 countries every year allows for TV audiences in 150 countries and territories, making our series a truly universal and global league,” he added.