Midway through the 2025 Diamond League campaign, multiple South African athletes are well placed in the standings of their disciplines, in the race for positions in the series final to be held later this season.
Though most of them still have some work to do to qualify for the final, after seven legs of the series, five SA athletes (three women and two men) are among the top five in their events.
Experienced sprinter Akani Simbine leads the charge, holding top spot in the men’s 100m event with 24 points after winning three legs of the series in Xiamen, Shaoxing and Rabat.
Olympic javelin throw silver medallist Jo-Ane du Plessis is lying second in her specialist discipline with 16 points, after finishing third in Shaoxing and Oslo and fifth in Rabat, and she has already qualified for the Diamond League final to be held in Zurich in August.
Middle-distance runner Prudence Sekgodiso is also in second position in the women’s 800m standings, holding 13 points after taking second place in Rabat and third spot in Stockholm last week.
Marione Fourie is in third position in the women’s 100m hurdles, raking in 12 points by finishing third in Xiamen and Shaoxin in her maiden Diamond League campaign.
It remains unclear, however, when Fourie will return to the track after undergoing shoulder surgery last week.
Sprinter Zakithi Nene, who has enjoyed a breakthrough season, is in fifth position in the men’s 400m event, having finished second in Rabat and again in Rome.
Meanwhile, six other SA athletes have secured Diamond League series points in their disciplines this season.
The eighth of 14 legs in the series will be held in Paris on Friday.
SA athletes in Diamond League standings
Men
100m
1 – Akani Simbine, 24 points
14 – Shaun Maswanganyi, 3 points
200m
13 – Wayde van Niekerk, 4 points
14 – Abduraghmaan Karriem, 4 points
16 – Benjamin Richardson, 2 points
18 – Shaun Maswanganyi, 2 points
400m
5 – Zakithi Nene, 14 points
13 – Lythe Pillay, 4 points
Women
800m
2 – Prudence Sekgodiso, 13 points
100m hurdles
3 – Marione Fourie, 12 points
400m hurdles
9 – Zeney Geldenhuys, 7 points
Javelin throw
2 – Jo-Ane du Plessis, 16 points
* Featured image of Prudence Sekgodiso by Cecilia van Bers
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