After a corona-adapted season with few competitions and unusual competition arrangements, athletics aims for a full competition program for the Diamond League with 14 competitions next year.
Stockholm's competition will be the fifth in a row.
- Last autumn, it was back and forth whether we would join or not, but as we continued to participate, we enter a new five-year period with the Diamond League.
The first season was not a real Diamond League season, but on the other hand, Diamond League delivered a pretty good competition series with many great results.
We were ranked as the second best gala in the world in 2020, says Jan Kowalski.
"Great chance to influence the infection situation"
Even though a pandemic is going on, Kowalski believes in a more normal season next year.
- Now they plan to start the Diamond League much later.
And with vaccines that will hopefully be approved for commercial use, we have a great chance of influencing the infection situation until the end of May, he says and continues:
- We in Stockholm think that July 4 is good, considering this year when the spread of infection had decreased significantly then.
During the summer, there is a lower spread of infection.
We hope that it will give us the opportunity to get athletes and maybe even an audience in the stands.
"Stockholm would like to have a discus"
In 2020, discus was not included in the Diamond League program.
But according to star Daniel Ståhl's coach Vesteinn Hafsteinsson, they will be back in 2021.
- He (the president of the International Federation Sebastian Coe) even said many times that it should be changed and he told me during this quarter that the discussion will come in next year, ie 2021, he has previously told TT.
According to Kowalski, the branch program is not ready.
- Discussions are ongoing and Diamond League will make a decision on the branch program, hopefully before Christmas.
And it is not surprising that Stockholm would like to have discus.