There are just three weeks to go to the start of the 2015 IAAF Diamond League series, with meetings in Doha and Shanghai getting the ball rolling and taking place just two days apart on 15th and 17th May, respectively.

The start of this year's series has a strong Asian emphasis, with the opening two meetings taking place on opposite sides of that continent, a theme that will continue all the way to the end of the summer with the focal point of the year being the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015.

However, both meetings have signed up a plethora of the sport's top performers from around the world to continue giving the IAAF Diamond League a truly global appeal.

Outstanding duel

World Athlete of the Year Renaud Lavillenie will start his campaign for his sixth successive Diamond Race crown in Doha while Shanghai can boast of high jump star Mutaz Essa Barshim.

The Doha meeting has got as its target a wholesale revision of its meeting records while Shanghai should see an outstanding duel over one lap of the track between LaShawn Merritt and Kirani James.

Speed will be a virtue in Shanghai with 2013 IAAF World Athlete of the Year Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce going to her blocks in the Chinese city.

The IAAF Diamond League meetings in Doha and Shanghai will also be the first two meetings in the 2015 edition of the popular Fantasy Diamond Race.

2015 IAAF Diamond League calendar

Doha, QAT - 15 May

Shanghai, CHN - 17 May

Eugene, USA - 30 May

Rome, ITA - 4 June

Birmingham, GBR - 7 June

Oslo, NOR - 11 June

New York, USA - 13 June

Paris, FRA - 4 July

Lausanne, SUI - 9 July

Monaco, MON - 17 July

London, GBR - 24-25 July

Stockholm, SWE - 30 July

Zurich, SUI - 3 September

Brussels, BEL - 11 September