Barshim the star attraction in Zurich Diamond League

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Bengaluru, August 24: Qatar's star high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim will be one of the strong contenders for the sixteen IAAF Diamond League trophies which are up for the grabs in Zurich on Thursday.

The Zurich meet is the first of the two 2017 IAAF Diamond League finals.

World champion Barshim has a tally of 40 points from six meetings and is 17 points clear of his nearest British rival Robbie Grabarz after his win in the previous round in Birmingham.

In all, 17 freshly-minted world champions and 14 reigning Olympic champions will be on the slate before a sell-out crowd of 25,000 at Zurich's Letzigrund Stadium.

In eight events, the two will be going head-to-head as they battle for the Diamond Trophy and each discipline's US$50,000 winner's check in a new championships-style format introduced this year.

Athletes competing in Zurich --and those who will compete in the remaining 16 Diamond disciplines in Brussels on September 1 earned their spots in the finals by accumulating points at the 12 IAAF Diamond League meetings leading up to the two finals where the winners of each Diamond discipline will be crowned the 2017 series' champions.

In all, $3.2m will be at stake in the 32 finals in Zurich and Brussels, with $100,000 on offer in each discipline.

Barshim's personal best of 2.43M at the 2014 Brussels Diamond League meeting is the second-best jump in world history behind Cuba's Javier Sotomayor's long-standing record of 2.45 set in 1992.

In the Zurich Diamond League pre-event press conference, the 26-year-old spoke about his desire to break the world record as seen in this IAAF tweet.