Ezekiel, Ofili Not Eligible for Diamond League Final Wild Card in Zurich

As anticipation builds for the 2025 Wanda Diamond League Final in Zürich, Nigerian athletes Nathaniel Ezekiel and Favour Ofili find themselves on the outside looking in—not just due to standings, but also because of the strict criteria governing wild card entries.

The Diamond League Final, set for August 27–28, will gather the world’s top athletes, most of whom have earned their spots by accumulating points across 14 series meetings held globally from April to August.

However, a limited number of athletes—just four in total (two men, two women)—can qualify via global wild cards, which are extended by meeting organizers to athletes who meet at least one of the following criteria:

World record holder

Reigning world, Olympic, or Diamond League champion

Top 5 in the World Athletics rankings for their event

Top 20 in the overall World Athletics rankings

Neither Ezekiel nor Ofili meets any of these benchmarks.

Ezekiel, who competes in the men’s 400m hurdles, currently sits ninth in the Diamond League standings—just one spot shy of the top eight automatic qualifiers. His only route to Zürich now depends on a withdrawal from one of the qualified athletes.

Ofili still has a lifeline in the women’s 200m, but it hinges entirely on her performance in Lausanne. Only a win there would earn her enough points to qualify directly. If she falls short, she too will be ineligible for a wild card.

To further complicate matters, one of the two global wild card slots for men has already been claimed by American sprint star Noah Lyles, a reigning world and Olympic champion whose credentials easily satisfy the selection criteria.

That leaves just one remaining wild card spot for male athletes—making Ezekiel’s chances even slimmer.