What to watch this weekend in sports

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Here are some things for Canadian fans to keep an eye on:

Track and field: The Diamond League season begins

The first of 15 meets in the global series takes place Saturday in Xiamen, China. Throughout the season, athletes will compete for prize money and points toward qualifying for the Diamond League Final in Zurich in late August — just a couple weeks before the world championships in Tokyo.

Last year, shot putter Sarah Mitton became the fourth Canadian ever to win a Diamond League championship, joining hurdler Priscilla Lopes-Schliep (2010), shot putter Dylan Armstrong (2011) and sprinter Andre De Grasse, who won the men's 200m at the 2023 Final.

Mitton is the only Canadian competing in the season opener, where her competition will include two-time reigning world champion Chase Jackson of the United States and China's Gong Lijiao, a two-time world champ and the Olympic gold medallist in 2021. Mitton took silver at the 2023 worlds and captured her second consecutive indoor world title last month.

Other stars in action Saturday include pole vault sensation Mondo Duplantis of Sweden and back-to-back-to-back Olympic 1,500m champ Faith Kipyegon of Kenya, who's racing the 1,000m as she prepares to attempt a four-minute mile this June. Two-time reigning world champion Shericka Jackson of Jamaica is running the 200m, while the men's 100m is headlined by Botswana's Letsile Tebogo, who won silver at the last world championships before capturing Olympic 200m gold in Paris. Here's the full schedule and startlists. 

For more on the Diamond League, read this explainer from CBC