LAUSANNE (Sporting Alert) — Several elite athletes, including the likes of former world 100m world recorder Asafa Powell, Dayron Robles, the 110m hurdles record holder and Blanka Vlasic are set for Thursday’s Samsung Diamond League meeting in Lausanne.
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Powell, who recently won the Jamaican national title, was expected to race against American Tyson Gay in his specialty, but will face new challenges with Gay pulling out because of a hip problem.
France’s Christophe Lemaitre, Nesta Carter and Michael Frater will start the race as Powell’s main challenges.
The meeting will also see the return of world 800 metres record holder David Rudisha, who was forced to pull out of earlier meetings in Doha and Rome with an injury.
A strong men’s field has also been assembled for the Shot Put with Americans Adam Nelson, Christian Cantwell and Reese Hoffa set to battle with Olympic champion Tomasz Majewski of Poland.
In the sand, Great Britain’s Phillips Idowu and Teddy Tamgho of France will look to hit the 18 metre standard as they continue their friendly rivalry in Lausanne.
Elsewhere, Americans Sanya Richards-Ross, Brittney Reese, Kerron Clement and Kellie Wells will also line up at Athletissima 2011.
On the list also are Bershawn Jackson, Maryam Jamal of Bahrain and Andreas Thorkildsen of Norwegian.
