Barshim and Drouin to resume duel

For the first time in almost four years, world champion Mutaz Barshim will compete against Olympic champion Derek Drouin in the high jump at the Wanda Diam...

For the first time in almost four years, world champion Mutaz Barshim will compete against Olympic champion Derek Drouin in the high jump at the Wanda Diamond league in Doha on Friday.The duo racked up a stack of medals and Diamond League wins between 2012 and 2017, both joining the exclusive 2.40m club in the process, but their careers were hampered by injuries in recent years.Barshim returned in 2019, winning the world title in sensational style on home soil, while Drouin has been out of action since 2017 and is only just returning to top-flight competition, having cleared 2.24m at a low-key meeting last week.World bronze medallist Ilya Ivanyuk, who cleared a world-leading 2.37m last weekend, also competes, as does European indoor champion Maksim Nedasekau and 2018 Diamond League winner Brandon Starc.All three world medallists in the women’s discus – Yaime Perez, Denia Caballero and Sandra Perkovic – will be in action on Friday. The presence of USA’s Valarie Allman means the line-up contains three women with 70-metre-plus PBs.In the men’s shot put, meanwhile, two-time world indoor champion Tom Walsh takes on Serbian record-holder Armin Sinancevic, Croatia’s Filip Mihaljevic and Poland’s Konrad Bukowiecki.