Nesta Carter competes in the men's 100 metres heats in Daegu (© Getty Images)
2008 Olympic 4x100m gold medalist Nesta Carter has joined a loaded men’s 50m field at the U.S. Open Track & Field on 28 January at Madison Square Garden.
The Jamaican replaces Trinidad’s Richard Thompson, who has withdrawn from the race, and gives the field at the opening stop of the 2012 IAAF Indoor Permit Meeting calendar two of the four fastest 100m sprinters in history.
Along with the gold medal in Beijing, Carter was a member of the Jamaican 4x100m that won a gold medal at the 2011 World Outdoor Championships and made the finals in the 100m. He won a silver medal in the 4x100m at the 2007 World Outdoor Championships. Carter joins teammate Asafa Powell along with Americans Justin Gatlin and Trell Kimmons and Antigua’s Daniel Bailey in what promises to be a highlight event for the U.S. Open.
Only Usain Bolt, Tyson Gay and Powell have ever run a faster in the 100m than Carter’s 2010 personal best of 9.78. That time was tied with Gay for the fastest in the world that year.
Carter joins previously announced stars to the U.S. Open David Oliver, Bernard Lagat, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jesse Williams, Christian Cantwell, Adam Nelson, Jason Richardson, Dawn Harper, Kellie Wells, Tiffany Ofili Porter, Ryan Whiting and Jenn Suhr.
The inaugural edition of the U.S. Open is the first event of USATF’s Visa Championships Series and will be held in the newly renovated Garden. The first major professional meet in the United States to kick-off the 2012 Olympic year, it will be broadcast on Sunday, 29 January, from 7-9 p.m. on ESPN2.
Organisers for the IAAF
