Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis heads up a stellar cast of athletes kicking off the 16th Diamond League season in Xiamen on Saturday amid a changing landscape that has seen Michael Johnson launch his Grand Slam track series.

Petr Stastny, CEO of the Diamond League, insisted that he welcomed competition, but added he thought the 15-meet circuit he oversees was the “backbone” of global athletics, with a record US$9.2 million in prize money on offer.

“You will get the most comprehensive coverage on the highest possible level of competition in our sport, in track and field. Great arenas, great big crowds,” Stastny said.

Former U.S. sprint star Johnson is the founder of Grand Slam Track, which debuted in Kingston earlier this month.

Conceived by Johnson as a way of reinvigorating interest in athletics outside of Olympic years, his four-event series aims to showcase more races between the world’s best runners, sprinters and hurdlers. There are no field events.

“We feel strongly that the sport is more than just track and we will continue growing the sport and not just a part of the sport,” said Stastny. “We see other events and series being established around us, which we are, generally speaking, happy about.

“But we are the backbone of the sport between the major championships, including the Olympics. We have track and field, that’s one. We are truly global.

“With one event in Jamaica and three in the United States I think it depends how you define global,” he said in reference to the Grand Slam Series.

“I see there a substantial difference. Being truly global means that you have athletes from a lot of countries and so far we’ve had it in the Diamond League — athletes from 142 countries competing. I don’t see that happening, at least for now, anywhere else.”