News26 May 2015


Global medallists to clash with world leader over 100m in Eugene – IAAF Diamond League

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Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce on her way to winning the 100m at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Eugene (© Getty Images)

All the women who won medals in the 100m and 200m at the 2013 IAAF World Championships will take on the current world leader in the 100m at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene on 29-30 May, the next leg of the IAAF Diamond League.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce won the past two Olympic 100m titles, joining Gail Devers and Wyomia Tyus in a select group of repeat Olympic champions. The three-time Diamond Race winner has also won two world titles at the distance.

In 2013, the last time the Prefontaine Classic had a women’s 100m, Fraser-Pryce won in a wind-assisted 10.71.

Ivory Coast’s Murielle Ahoure took the silver medal behind Fraser-Pryce in both the 100m and 200m at the 2013 World Championships. She has two more silver medals from the IAAF World Indoor Championships after finishing second in the 60m in 2012 and 2014. She has twice competed in Eugene before, finishing fourth in the 200m last year and fifth in the 100m in 2013.

African record-holder Blessing Okagbare also featured in the 2013 edition of the Prefontaine Classic, clocking a wind-assisted 10.75 in third place, and then took the 200m bronze and long jump silver at the World Championships later that year. She convincingly won the 100m at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Shanghai earlier this year, beating a field that included three of the women she’ll face in Eugene.

With a PB of 10.64, USA’s Carmelita Jeter is the second-fastest woman in history and a three-time Diamond Race winner. The world bronze medallist set a meeting record of 10.70 in Eugene in 2011 before going on to win the world title that year.

Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson claimed the early 2015 world lead with a personal best of 10.92 in April. She backed that up a month later with a 10.97 victory over Okagbare and Allyson Felix at the IAAF World Challenge meeting in Kingston. The 22-year-old will be making her IAAF Diamond League debut in Eugene.

Tori Bowie was the fastest woman in the world last year, clocking 10.80. Her first big breakthrough performance came in Eugene where she won the 200m in 22.18 after being a late addition to the field.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Michelle-Lee Ahye clocked a 100m PB of 10.85 last year and then went on to win at the IAAF Diamond League meetings in Lausanne and Glasgow, beating the likes of Fraser-Pryce, Ahoure, Okagbare and Jeter along the way.

USA’s Tianna Bartoletta is the 2005 world long jump champion and Olympic 4x100m champion. The two-time world indoor 60m bronze medallist will compete in the long jump on Friday in Eugene before contesting the 100m on Saturday.

There will be an additional ‘international’ women’s 100m featuring even more world-class sprinting talent.

US junior record-holder English Gardner won the US 100m title in 2013 with a PB of 10.85, then went on to finish just outside the medals at the World Championships that year.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Kelly-Ann Baptiste is the 2011 world bronze medallist. Her PB of 10.84 makes her the fastest in the field.

Olympic 4x100m champion Jeneba Tarmoh is the US 200m champion. She set her 100m PB of 10.93 in 2013, then finished fifth in the 200m at the World Championships that year.

World junior 200m champion Kaylin Whitney set world youth records in the 100m and 200m last year. Still a youth for 2015 and a junior until the end of 2017, the 17-year-old has already turned professional.

The two fastest South American women in history will also be in the field. Ana Claudia Silva recently broke her own continental record with 11.01. One month later, compatriot Rosangela Santos beat Silva to the Brazilian 100m title, winning in 11.08 to move to second on the South American all-time list.

Kimberlyn Duncan won the 2013 US 200m title in a wind-assisted 21.80, two weeks after winning her third NCAA title at the distance. In the 100m, she has a PB of 10.96.

Barbara Pierre is also a former national champion, winning the US indoor 60m title in 2013. Later that year, she clocked a 100m PB of 10.85.

Organisers for the IAAF

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