Bloom of Kenyan stars as Doha hosts season's premier in Diamond League

There will be no love lost as 16 reigning Olympic and world champions assemble in Qatari capital on Friday for first stop of the Doha Diamond League meeting.

Kenya will have 25 runners seek to jump-start their season after a long recess with hope of clinching the win and have fast time to boot.

Former 800m world champion Eunice Sum and world 400m hurdles winner Nicholas Bett, will be seeking to reclaim their past glory as they enter a chocking field of stars.

"I have only one win in the Diamond League and it is not a good record. I had poor form last season, but it happens to many people in sport. Now I have my focus on returning to where I have been before, the top," said Bett.

But Sum faces a daunting task after she was pushed aside by a younger generation of 800m runners last year.

The Kenyan will come up against South Africa's Olympic champion Caster Semenya, Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi and Kenyan Margaret Nyambui Nyairera.

There will also be world 1500m record-holder Genzebe Dibaba's making her debut over the distance.

"It has always been tough in the 800m race. There will always be people coming through the ranks. I still believe I jave something to offer the race and that is why I train hard. I want to do well in Doha and see how the season pans out towards the London World Championships," said Sum.

Semenya, the 2016 Diamond Trophy winner, was unbeaten over the distance last year and Niyonsaba captured the world indoor title while Dibaba has won world gold in 2015 and Olympic silver in 2016 at 1500m.

In those two races, the Ethiopian covered the last 800m in 1:57.2 and 1:58.47 respectively, suggesting she's clearly capable of holding her own with the event's finest runners.

In javelin, Thomas Rohler of Germany heads the field, squaring off against Kenya' s world champion Julius Yego and Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic, last year' s Diamond Trophy winner. Of the three, only Vadlejch has competed this year, throwing 85.71m in early April.

The women' s 3,000m steeplechase is also loaded with top names led by Olympic champion Ruth Jebet of Bahrain, who followed up her Olympic heroics with an 8:52.78 world record run at the Paris leg of the IAAF Diamond League last season.

The Bahraini will again face Kenya's world champion Hyvin Kiyeng and U.S. record-holder Emma Coburn, the Olympic silver and bronze medallists.

The man to watch in the men's 1,500m is a familiar face in Doha, three-time world champion Asbel Kiprop, who'll be gunning for a fourth victory here.

The Kenyan is the meeting record-holder at 3:29.18, the fastest ever performance in the month of May, and returns after notching a resounding victory last year. Another win on Friday would be his 24th in IAAF Diamond League competition.

His compatriots are expected to provide the stiffest competition, namely Silas Kiplagat, the 2011 world silver medallist and two-time Diamond Race winner, and Elijah Manangoi, the world silver medallist.

Ayanleh Souleiman of Djibouti, the 2014 world indoor champion, could also be a factor. He's raced well in Doha before, beating a stacked field in the 800m two years ago.

The meeting will conclude with the men's 3,000m, which features more Olympic and world medallists, Rio Games steeplechase champion Conseslus Kipruto taking on Olympic 5,000m silver medalist Paul Chelimo of the United States, Ethiopia's world indoor champion Yomif Kejelcha, and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Thomas Longosiwa of Kenya. Endit