LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Olympic champions Omar McLeod and Brianna Rollins will make a swift return to the track on Thursday (25) when they compete at the Athletissima meeting – the first IAAF Diamond League competition after the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Another thrilling battle is expected in the women’s 100m hurdles where Rollins will clash with fellow American and world record holder Kendra Harrison, who missed the Rio 2016 Olympics, having failed to qualify for Team USA at the trials last month.
Harrison had a shocking setback at the US Team Trials July, but returned to the track in London a week later at the last IAAF Diamond League meeting to set a new world record of 12.20 seconds.
Also lining up the women’s race in Lausanne will be two other Americans, Sharika Nelvis and Jasmin Stowers – meaning fans will get to see four of the five fastest US women of all-time going head-to-head.
Dawn Harper-Nelson, who is ranked joint 6th on the US all-time list, should also make the race pretty interesting.
The men’s 110m hurdles will see the top four men from Rio 2016 going head-to-head again.
Olympic champion Omar McLeod will look to extend his impressive form this term when he takes on Spain’s Orlando Ortega and French duo Dimitri Bascou and Pascal Martinot-Lagarde.
McLeod, who won gold in the 60m hurdles at the IAAF World Indoor Championships earlier this year, became Jamaica’s first ever Olympic gold medallist in the men’s 110m hurdles.
In the women’s 400m hurdles, in-form Olympic gold medallist Dalilah Muhammad of the USA and fellow podium finishers Sara Petersen of Denmark and USA’s Ashley Spencer, are all set to do battle again in Lausanne.
Shamier Little, who did not qualify for the US Olympic team, despite being the favourite heading into the team trials, will also compete, along with Olympic finalist Eilidh Doyle of Great Britain and home favourite Lea Sprunger, who missed out on the 400m hurdles Olympic final in Rio.
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
