Qatari high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim will make his return to the IAAF Diamond League after a little more than year in London on Sunday.
Barshim will be up against Asian champion Syria’s Majd Eddin Ghazal, who won the gold at this year’s Asian Athletics Championships in Doha in the local boy’s absence, Asian Games gold medallist Yu Wang of China and European champion Mateusz Przybylko of Germany among others at the London Stadium.
The world champion had been out of action post suffering an ankle injury at the Gyulai Memorial in Hungary July last year, while he attempted a world record 2.46m after having already won the event with a 2.40m effort.
He only returned to training in April this year, ahead of the Asian Athletics Championships, a test event for September’s IAAF World Athletics Championships, at Doha’s Khalifa International Stadium.
He had told Gulf Times then, “I really wanted to do it because the (Asian) championships were being held at home. Luckily I have bigger championships at home coming soon, so I said to myself, ‘You know what, sometimes that’s how sport is’.
“I have just come back from an injury, and I don’t want to do something that will cost me the World Championships later. So I want to make sure that I am a 100 percent fit.”
Barshim then made a winning return to competitive action in Sopot last month, clearing 2.27m for a victory. “I just want to give thanks to God, my family and friends, everyone who believed in me ,” Barshim had posted on his Instagram account after the win in Poland.
“Been to really difficult times and to be honest I was not sure if I was ever going to be able to jump again but I believe everything happens for a reason.”
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