Mary Moraa Leads Diamond League Standings Ahead of McLaughlin Showdown

• Mary Moraa leads the 800m Women's Diamond League standings after winning her third race this season
• The Kenyan 'dancing queen' and World bronze medalist is the reigning champion after her 2022 victory
• Moraa will face Olympic champ Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in the 400m at the Monaco Diamond League

Mary Moraa continued with her perfect start to the 2023 season by winning her third 800-metre Diamond League race at the Silesia meet on July 16.

Moraa clocked 1:56.85 to win the race ahead of Uganda's Halima Nakaayi and Jamaica's Goulee-Touppin Natoya. The win saw her rise to first place in the season's standings as she seeks to defend the title she won last year.

The 23-year-old won the Rabat Diamond League in late May before following it up with another statement victory at the Lausanne Diamond League.

Moraa is yet to lose a race this season after recording a new national record in the 400m event a fortnight ago.

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Athletics

Moraa faces Monaco Diamond League

Her unbeaten record will be tested on Friday when she lines up in the 400m race at the Monaco Diamond League, as shown on the competition's website.

Moraa will face the 400m world record-holder, Sydney-McLaughlin Levrone, among others.

The American will be attempting the 400m flat at the World Athletics Championships this year. Levrone was crowned the United States Champion after clocking a personal best time of 48.74 seconds, as Sports Brief reported previously.

Moraa's best time, also Kenya's national record, is 50.34 seconds in the one-lap race.

In the 800m, she holds a one-point advantage over Natoya of Jamaica, who has taken part in one more event. World and Olympic silver medalist, Keeley Hodgkinson, is in fourth place after two events so far.

Moraa and Hodgkinson are expected to rival the defending champion, Athing Mu, in Budapest next month.

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Football

Women's Diamond League 800m standings

*Figures courtesy of World Athletics.

Wanda Diamond League rules

As Sports Brief previously reported, Diamond League consists of around 15 meets in different countries throughout the course of the year.

In each of these meetings, the top eight athletes are awarded points based on their finishing position: number one gets 8 points, and so on.

For the final in Oregon, the top six in the field events and the top ten in the long-distance events compete based on the points they tallied.

Mary Moraa's difficult childhood

Sports Brief also reported on Moraa's story of dedication and perseverance, after bursting onto the scene during the World Junior Championships in 2017.

The Kenyan captured the attention of a nation known for producing world-beaters in middle and long-distance races, with her ethos of determined work.