Amy Mbacké Thiam of Senegal (© Getty Images)
Competitive action this Friday, as well as an IAAF Council meeting throughout this coming weekend will ensure that the Senegalese capital of Dakar is very much the centre of the athletics world in the next few days.
The annual international athletics meeting in Le stade Léopold Sedar Senghor on Friday (4 April) which was held a week earlier last year, has attracted an illustrious international field considering the European and American indoor seasons in particular have only recently been put to bed.
Cameroon’s Joseph Batangdon, who was the sensation of the French indoor championships, and recently took the 200m silver medal at the World Indoor championships in Birmingham (15 March), will along with Nigeria’s 2002 World Cup 100m winner Uchenna Emodolu be the stars of the men’s sprints in Dakar.
Another major name who will also be present is former World and Olympic Long Jump silver medallist James Beckford of Jamaica, who did not qualify for the World Indoor final in Birmingham, and so will be looking for a quick return to form outdoors this weekend.
The women’s events have also attracted some top acts, who like the men come straight from the indoor season. These include Slovenia’s World indoor 800m record holder Jolanda Ceplak, and the Triple Jump pairing of Cameroon’s Françoise Mbango and Kène Ndoye of Senegal, who took World silver and bronze respectively in Birmingham.
Also, we should not forget two reigning outdoor World champions, Morocco’s Nezha Biduane (400m Hurdles) and home heroine Amy Mbacké Thiam (400m), who will also be competing on Friday.
IAAF
