From Rehm to Sabatini and Woodhall: Para athletes who shone in the Diamond League

One-time Paralympic champion and two-time world champion in the women's 100m T63, Ambra Sabatini led the Italian contingent as the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea – Rome’s stop on the 2026 Wanda Diamond League Series – once again featured Para athletics races in the programme.

Since the days of the predecessor Golden League, many of World Athletics’ top-tier meetings have incorporated Para athletics events, showcasing stars such as Fleur Jong, Hannah Cockroft, Hunter Woodhall, Marcel Hug, Markus Rehm, Martina Caironi, Salum Kashafali and Tatyana McFadden.

Rome continued that tradition on Thursday (4 June) at the Olympic Stadium, with men’s and women’s 100m multi-class races. Paris 2023 world champion and Paralympic silver medallist Maxcel Amo Manu, last year's winner, had to settle for second (11.22) behind Germany's reigning 100m T64 world champion Felix Streng (10.69). Italian T47 Paralympian Riccardo Bagaini finished third. 

The women’s 100m multi-class race returned to the Golden Gala programme this year and saw Spanish T64 Paralympian Fiona Pilar take the win (13.45) on her Diamond League debut. Swiss sprinter Abassia Rahmani (T62) finished second, with Italy's Giuliana Chiara Filippi (T64) in third. The only T63 athlete in the field, Sabatini placed fifth.

Complete results of the 2026 Golden Gala Pietro Mennea are available here.

Here is a look back at the best Para athletics moments across the Diamond League.

Salum wins ‘Fastest Paralympian’ race in Oslo

Oslo has featured Para athletics races in the Bislett Games programme for more than two decades, and one of its most memorable moments came in 2022 with the “Fastest Paralympian” race.

Home favourite Salum Kashafali, then the reigning 100m T12 Paralympic champion, lined up against a world-class field with Brazil’s Petrucio Ferreira (T47), Greece’s Athanasios Ghavelas (T11) and Germany’s Felix Streng (T64) and Johannes Floors (T62).

Kashafali edged Ferreira by 0.002 seconds to thrill the Bislett Stadium crowd. He made his Diamond League debut in 2019 and returned in 2023 to complete a remarkable double: winning the multi-class Para race and Norway’s 100m national event against non-Para athletes, clocking a personal best of 10.37.

This year’s programme includes a women’s 100m Para race. Ireland’s Orla Comerford won the event in 2025, launching a standout season that culminated with world titles in the women’s 100m T13 and 200m T13 in New Delhi.

Tomorrow marks the 50th edition of the @nikepreclassic in Eugene 🏃🇺🇸

A key Diamond League stop featuring 4 Para athletics races, bringing some of the sport’s brightest stars to the track - including Hunter Woodhall, Sherman Guity or Brittni Mason 🌟#ParaAthletics pic.twitter.com/XNUmbp1BAp

— Para Athletics (@ParaAthletics) July 4, 2025

Prefontaine Classic: Eugene’s Para athletics tradition

July’s Eugene Diamond League in the USA will once again stage men’s and women’s 100m multi-class races. Paralympic 400m T62 champion Hunter Woodhall is already confirmed, with the full field to follow.

Woodhall placed second in last year’s 200m T62–64, won by Dutch sprinter Oliver Hendriks, and watched his wife, Olympic champion Tara Davis-Woodhall, triumph in the long jump. The 2025 meeting also marked Orla Comerford’s second consecutive 100m win, a result that preceded her first world title two months later.

Salum Kashafali extended his winning streak in Eugene by taking the men’s 100m, while eight-time Paralympic champion Tatyana McFadden prevailed over Belgium’s Lea Bayekula in the women’s 800m T54.

Eugene has welcomed numerous Paralympic and world champions in recent editions, including Luca Ekler, Sophie Hahn, Ambra Sabatini, Maxcel Amo Manu and Sherman Guity. Martina Caironi and Fleur Jong claimed the women’s 100m titles in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

Best of Britain and beyond 

This year’s London Diamond League, set for July at the Olympic Stadium, currently has no Para events confirmed. British meetings, however, have long been a showcase for Para athletics.

In 2010, the inaugural Diamond League season, London hosted several Para races featuring Paralympic champions Libby Clegg and Marcel Hug. Hug returned in 2011 to win the 1500m T53–54, while Jonnie Peacock thrilled home fans with victory in the 200m.

Since then, Paralympic champions such as Manuela Schaer, Leo-Pekka Tahti, Markus Rehm, David Weir, Stef Reid and Hannah Cockroft have all enjoyed success at the meeting.  

The event has also been held in Glasgow (2014) and Birmingham (2022) as part of Commonwealth Games promotion – both editions included Para races and both produced wins for Cockroft.

Last year, Sophie Hahn claimed the women’s 100m multi-class title, while Paris 2024 Paralympic champion Ben Sandilands (T20) won the men’s 1500m.

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Rehm reigns in Silesia, wheelchair stars in Switzerland and Belgium

The final four meetings of the 2026 season – Lausanne, Silesia, Zurich and Brussels – have all previously featured Para events. Lausanne and Zurich, in particular, have long been synonymous with Swiss wheelchair racing, with Marcel Hug dominating the 1500m in Lausanne for more than a decade.

The Stade Olympique de la Pontaise has also welcomed one of Para athletics’ greats: Germany’s Markus Rehm, who won the men’s long jump in 2024 before securing his fourth Paralympic T64 gold in Paris.

Zurich traditionally staged a mixed wheelchair pursuit race – won by the likes of Marcel Hug, Manuela Schaer and Catherine Debrunner – before switching in 2023 to separate men’s and women’s events. That year, Great Britain’s Sammi Kinghorn broke the Swiss winning streak in the women’s 1500m, while Hug continued his dominance in the men’s race.

Chorzow, Poland, has included Para events since the Silesia Diamond League kicked off in 2022. Rehm also won there en route to the Paris Games, and Great Britain’s Thomas Young – the Tokyo 2020 100m T38 champion – claimed last year’s multi-class sprint.

The 2026 series will conclude with the Diamond League Finals in Brussels on 4-5 September. The 50th anniversary edition of the Allianz Memorial Van Damme – part of the Diamond League since 2010 – honours the late Belgian middle-distance star Ivo Van Damme.

Two-time Paralympic and world champion Lea Bayekula has thrilled home fans with consecutive wheelchair victories since 2022, while Finland’s Toni Piispanen dominated the men’s races for years.

The 2024 edition, held shortly after the Paris Paralympics, saw Dutch sprinter Kimberly Alkemade win the women’s 100m T64 fresh off her first Paralympic gold – in the 200m T64. Turkey’s Aysel Onder, the Paris 400m T20 silver medallist and reigning world champion, also claimed victory.

Last year, South Africa’s Putselelo Mabote won the 100m before securing his first world title in New Delhi. Fleur Jong was among the standout performers of the 2025 meeting, topping the podium in a long jump competition featuring both Para and non-Para athletes.

More information about the 2026 Wanda Diamond League can be found here.