Sarah Mitton aims to add Diamond League hardware to collection and other storylines

Armed with a new Canadian record and several recent victories, Sarah Mitton travelled to Zurich last September keen on winning her first Diamond League Trophy.

The confidence and consistency she exhibited throughout the professional track and field season was in full view on Sechseläutenplatz, one of the city's most famous squares on the shore of Lake Zurich.

Mitton threw 19.56 metres on her first shot put attempt but the native of Brooklyn, N.S., couldn't top the 20 metres needed to upend Chase Ealey, whose 20.19 gave the American her an 11th victory in as many outdoor events in 2022 and third over the Canadian.

The loss served as motivation for Mitton, who set a national indoor mark of 19.80 in January and the following month exacted revenge on Ealey, defeating the world champion in Madrid at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold series meet.

"She has worked extremely hard this indoor season tweaking technique and getting faster and stronger," Mitton's coach Rich Parkinson said ahead of Friday's Diamond League opener in Doha, Qatar. You can watch the action live streamed through CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem beginning at 12 p.m. ET.

"I expect to see her compete and throw well [in the outdoor campaign]. I know she has sights on winning Diamond League. She isn't working this hard for second."

WATCH | Mitton throws 19.56m for 2nd in Diamond League Final:

The 26-year-old Mitton will open her Diamond League season May 28 in Rabat, Morocco, the second of 15 events on the 2023 calendar, and then compete at the Meeting de Paris (June 9) and six days later at the Bislett Games in Oslo, Norway.

Athletics Canada's 2022 field athlete of the year placed top three at three of four Diamond League competitions last season and went on to win gold medals at the Commonwealth Games and NACAC Championships in August.

For the first time, the season-ending competition won't be held in Brussels or Zurich. The Prefontaine Classic is scheduled for Sept. 16-17 in Eugene, Ore., where 32 Diamond League champions will be crowned and earn $30,000 US in prize across two days of elite athletics at Hayward Field, site of last year's World Athletics Championships.

WATCH | Diamond League Preview — 5 storylines to follow:

Like Mitton, sprinter Aaron Brown, middle-distance runner Marco Arop and high jumper Django Lovett posted a top-three finish in Zurich and inched closer to being the first Diamond League champion from Canada since shot putter Dylan Armstrong in 2011.

The previous year, one-time world No. 1 hurdler Priscilla Lopes-Schliep of Whitby, Ont., became the country's inaugural Diamond League champ when the 2008 Olympic bronze medallist stopped the clock in 12.54 seconds in the women's 100 in Belgium.

Brown and Lovett will compete Friday at Qatar Sports Club along with sprinter and six-time Olympic medallist Andre De Grasse and pole vaulter Alysha Newman. She returns to the circuit for the first time since May 2021 after a lingering concussion suffered the previous month and stress fracture in her left heel prematurely ended the London, Ont., native's 2022 season.