News26 Jul 2016


Hurdlers McLeod, Ortega and Clement confirmed for Lausanne – IAAF Diamond League

FacebookTwitterEmail

Orlando Ortega (right) on his way to winning the 110m hurdles at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Monaco (© Philippe Fitte)

Jamaica’s world indoor champion Omar McLeod is one of several top hurdlers confirmed for Lausanne’s Athletissima meeting on 25 August, the 11th stop of this year’s IAAF Diamond League.

The 22-year-old Jamaican, who finished 2015 as the second-fastest athlete in the world over 110m hurdles with a best of 12.97, has dominated the season so far with IAAF Diamond League wins in Doha, Shanghai and Eugene.

McLeod, who has a sub-10-second 100m to his credit this year, holds five of the seven fastest performances achieved in 2016, and his winning time of 12.98 in Shanghai means he is the only athlete to have run a sub-13-second time so far this summer.

McLeod will be facing Spain’s Orlando Ortega, who topped the world list ahead of McLeod last year with a best of 12.94. He has a best of 13.04 this year and has just won the Spanish Championships in 13.09.

Other athletes in the 110m hurdles line-up include Frenchmen Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, winner at the 2014 Lausanne meeting, Wilhem Belocian, bronze medallist at the recent European Championships in Amsterdam, and Dimitri Bascou, the European champion who also won the event at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in London last Saturday.

Double world 400m hurdles champion Kerron Clement, who won his event in London last weekend, will offer home hurdler Kariem Hussein a serious challenge in the Stade de la Pontaise.

The 30-year-old US hurdler won his world titles back in 2007 and 2009, but he is getting faster and faster as the Olympic Games approach, winning the US Trials in 48.50 and then improving his season’s best to 48.40 in London. Clement has never won in Lausanne and will certainly be eager to add a victory at Athletissima to his collection.

The same goes for US compatriot Michael Tinsley, silver medallist at the 2012 Olympic Games and 2013 IAAF World Championships, who took the third automatic qualifying spot for Rio at the US Trials. The 400m hurdles in Lausanne will also feature the man who took second place at the US Trials, Byron Robinson, plus Britain’s 2012 European champion Rhys Williams.

Organisers for the IAAF

2016 IAAF Diamond League calendar
6 May – Doha, QAT
14 May – Shanghai, CHN
22 May – Rabat, MAR
28 May – Eugene, USA
2 Jun – Rome, ITA
5 Jun – Birmingham, GBR
9 Jun – Oslo, NOR
16 Jun – Stockholm, SWE
15 Jul – Monaco, MON
22-23 Jul – London, GBR
25 Aug – Lausanne, SUI
27 Aug – Paris, FRA
1 Sep – Zurich, SUI
9 Sep – Brussels, BEL

Loading...