The Qatari capital was meant to host the first Diamond League of the 2026 season.
The Doha Diamond League has been postponed from May 8 to June 19, due to “the interests of athlete and spectator safety”.
In recent weeks, because of the war in the Middle East, organisers had been monitoring the situation and a decision has now been taken to move the meeting back one month.
It means that Doha, which was meant to open this year’s calendar, will now fall between the Bislett Games in Oslo on June 10 and the Meeting de Paris on June 28, making the Qatari capital the eighth leg of this year’s Diamond League.
The Diamond League states that it “will continue to monitor developments in the Middle East in the coming weeks” and that “should conditions allow”, it will be held on June 19.
With temperatures often exceeding 40C in Qatar in June, the meeting has been moved from the Suheim bin Hamad Stadium to the temperature-regulated Khalifa International Stadium.
The last time the Khalifa International Stadium hosted the Diamond League was back in 2019, the same year that Doha held the World Athletics Championships.
After the US and Israel launched wide-ranging strikes on Iran in February, several high-profile sporting events have been postponed or cancelled. Formula 1 cancelled the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Grand Prix weekends and the Finalissima between Argentina and Spain, which was meant to take place in Doha this month, was also cancelled.
With the scheduling changes to the Diamond League calendar, it means that the series will now begin in Shanghai/Keqiao on May 16. The final will be in Brussels on September 4-5.