As Rabat prepares to host Africa’s first International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Diamond League meeting tomorrow, some of the continent’s finest competitors are readying themselves for some potentially gripping rivalries on the track.

Usain Bolt produced his first sub-10 second 100 metres of the Olympic season as he clocked 9.98 to win the Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava - but his expected “showdown” with fellow world and Olympic champion Ashton Eaton failed to happen.

Nigeria’s Commonwealth 100 and 200 metres champion Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor has said that this weekend's International Association of Athletics Federations’ (IAAF) Diamond League meeting in Rabat - the first to be held on the continent - can have worldwide benefits.

Olympic champions David Rudisha and Renaud Lavillenie suffered unexpected defeats in a dramatic evening of action at the International Association of Athletics Federations’ second Diamond League meeting of the season in Shanghai.

Ticket sales for the world’s “longest and tallest tunnel slide” down the ArcelorMittel Orbit Tower in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park are “very promising” according to the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) - and the struggling venue is now on course to double its annual visiting figure to reach profitability.

China took full advantage of Russia’s enforced absence from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Race Walking Team Championships in Rome as they ended the first day with golds in both the men’s and women’s 20 kilometre events.

South Africa’s former world 800 metres champion Caster Semenya used the opening International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) opening Diamond League meeting of the season in Doha to lower her 2016 world-leading mark and throw down a further marker of her own towards what might be a controversial victory at this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro 

Rome, which has had just four months to prepare for this weekend’s International Association of Athletics Federations’ World Race Walking Team Championships – switched from Cheboksary following the suspension of the All-Russia Athletic Federation pending doping investigations – is dedicating the event to its 1997 world champion Annarita Sidoti, who died of breast cancer last year aged 45.

A host of Olympic and world champions have gathered in Doha to take part in tomorrow’s season-opener for the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Diamond League series – and Sebastian Coe is looking to the meeting to provide the kind of entertainment that will draw more young people in to the sport.

Sebastian Coe has responded to a question about Qatar’s continuing ambition to host the Olympics by insisting that it is important for the Olympic movement to follow through on its support for the globalisation of sport.

The main athletics track for the Rio 2016 Olympics has now been laid by Mondo following a series of delays, and everything is on target to meet the deadline of a test event due to be held from May 14 to 16.

Installation of the Mondo athletics track in the Olympic Stadium for Rio 2016, delayed for more than a month following local hold-ups in preparation and unusually bad weather, is now underway – and just on target for completion in time for the test event next month. 

Filming has begun in Boston on two major features dealing with the bombings at the finish line of the city’s 2013 marathon – and a drama entitled Finish Line, based on testimony of those caught up in the trauma, has begun a preview run ahead of the 120th running of the marathon on April 18.