How Ajayi, Nathaniel and Enekwechi Can Qualify for Diamond League Final

With the 2026 Wanda Diamond League regular season entering its decisive phase, three Nigerian athletes still have a mathematical route to the season-ending final in Brussels, but their situations are markedly different.

World record-holder Tobi Amusan has already secured her place in the women’s 100m hurdles final, scheduled for Brussels on September 4-5. Amusan has accumulated 28 points and is safely inside the qualifying positions.

The focus now turns to Kanyinsola Ajayi, Ezekiel Nathaniel and Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, who are all still chasing places in their respective events.

Importantly, the official Diamond League rules confirm that the top eight in the 100m through 800m qualify for the final, while only the top six qualify in field events such as shot put. There can also be one national or global wildcard in each discipline.

Nathaniel has the clearest route

Of the three Nigerians, Ezekiel Nathaniel arguably has the most realistic opportunity to make another Diamond League final.

The 23-year-old, who reached the final last year, has competed only once in the 2026 series and finished fourth, earning five points. His route to Brussels therefore depends heavily on competing in the remaining qualifying opportunities in the men’s 400m hurdles.

The discipline is scheduled for Silesia on August 22-23 and Zurich on August 26-27.

Nathaniel needs to maximise those opportunities. Two strong fourth-place finishes would give him another 10 points, while a higher finish could dramatically improve his position. The key is not merely the number of points he earns, but how many points his direct rivals collect in the remaining meetings.

His previous Diamond League final experience is also important. Nathaniel is not trying to break into an unfamiliar environment; he already knows what it takes to qualify and compete at the highest level of the series.

Ajayi needs almost everything to fall into place

For Kanyinsola Ajayi, the equation is considerably more difficult.

The Nigerian sprinter has only one remaining opportunity because the men’s 100m is not on the programme in Lausanne or Zurich. His final qualifying chance comes at Silesia on August 22-23.

Ajayi currently has 8 points from his victory in London, where he beat a star-studded field that included Oblique Seville.

But winning in London does not automatically put him through. With only one qualifying race remaining, Ajayi almost certainly needs another victory in Silesia and will also need several athletes ahead of him in the standings to miss the meeting.

That makes his qualification scenario dependent not only on his own performance but also on especially the entries of the leading contenders.

A victory would give him eight more points under the Diamond League scoring system, taking him to 16. The official scoring scale awards 8 points for first, 7 for second, down to one point for eighth.

Ajayi’s best chance, therefore, is simple: run in Silesia, win, and hope enough of the athletes ahead of him do not compete or score heavily.

Enekwechi faces the toughest task

For Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, the numbers make the road to Brussels considerably steeper.

The Commonwealth Games champion has competed twice in the 2026 Diamond League, finishing fifth in Xiamen with 21.14m and sixth in Eugene with 21.36m.

That gives him a limited points haul, while the men’s shot put has only one remaining Diamond League qualifying meeting, Weltklasse Zürich on August 26-27. The event is not scheduled for Silesia or Lausanne.

And this is where the task becomes particularly demanding.

Because only six athletes qualify automatically in field events, Enekwechi needs to move substantially up the standings. A victory in Zurich would give him eight points, but even that may not be enough by itself depending on how the athletes around him perform.

Enekwechi has, however, shown that he can produce his best performances on the Diamond League stage. His season’s best is 21.74m, while his personal best is 22.10m, set in Eugene in 2025.

His qualification bid is therefore likely to require a combination of winning or finishing very high in Zurich, producing a major throw and getting favourable results from the athletes ahead of him.

The wildcard complication

There is another factor that could make the final qualification positions unpredictable: wildcards.

The Diamond League rules allow one athlete in each discipline to qualify through a national or global wildcard, subject to the eligibility requirements.

A global wildcard can, for example, go to a reigning world, Olympic or Diamond League champion, a world-record holder or an athlete meeting specified World Athletics ranking criteria.

That means finishing seventh or eighth in an event where eight athletes qualify does not necessarily tell the whole story, because a wildcard can affect the final composition of the field.

For the Nigerians, therefore, finishing as high as possible is crucial. A top-seven position in the 100m or 400m hurdles can provide a useful safety margin if a wildcard is allocated, while the field-event qualification structure is even tighter.