HURDLES PREVIEW — Olympic champion Omar McLeod will be looking to “have some fun” when he lines up in his first hurdles race of the 2021 season. The Jamaican will make his hurdles debut for this campaign in the 60m hurdles at the American Track League Meeting #3 at Randal Tyson Track Center here in Fayetteville and you will be able to watch the entire coverage live on ESPN, starting at 3:30 p.m. ET.
McLeod finished sixth in the 60m to kick-start his season during the first staging of the series on Jan. 24 but is now ready to lineup in his first hurdles race in almost two years.
The 26-year-old has not run competitively in the hurdles since the final of the World Championships in Doha, Qatar, in 2019, but videos of his pre-meet practice session on Saturday showed him looking sharp on a track where he used to prepare to win four NCAA titles, including two indoor and one outdoor hurdles crown.
“First hurdle race since Doha! Let’s have some fun,!” McLeod posted on his Twitter account on Saturday.
Will Improve On His Personal Best?
McLeod, whose last 60m hurdles race came in 2018, holds a personal best of 7.41 seconds in the event, a time he ran on his way to winning the World Indoor title in Portland, USA.
Olympic Champ Omar McLeod To Make Hurdles Debut At American Track League Meeting #3
The preliminary round of the men’s 60m hurdles will begin at 3:51 with McLeod starting from lane four in the second heat. He will come up against US Virgin Islands’ Eddie Lovett and Trinidad and Tobago’s Ruebin Walters in the first round.
American Michael Dickson, who opened his season with a 7.54 seconds performance on the same track two weeks ago, comes in with the fastest time in the meet.
He is expected to be the main challenge to McLeod, along with the European Indoor champion from 2019, Milan Trajkovic of Cyprus.
American world champion Grant Holloway owns the fastest time in the world this season at 7.35.
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