News06 Apr 2016


Bartoletta and Barber added to Kawasaki fields

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USA's Tianna Bartoletta in the long jump (© Getty Images)

Organisers of the Golden Grand Prix have added world champions Tianna Bartoletta and Shawn Barber to the line-up for the IAAF World Challenge meeting in Kawasaki on 8 May.

Bartoletta will be making her fourth appearance at this meeting. She won the 100m in Kawasaki back in 2010, and then won the 100m again and finished second in the long jump in 2014 when the meeting was held in Tokyo. She opened her 2015 campaign with a victory in the long jump in Kawasaki before going on to win the world title in that event in Beijing.  

Barber, meanwhile, will be making his first appearance in Japan. The Canadian pole vaulter will have in his sights the meeting record of 5.75m, which is currently shared by three men: Dmitri Markov, Brad Walker and Paul Burgess.

China’s world high jump silver medallist Zhang Guowei has also been confirmed for Kawasaki. The 24-year-old finished second in Kawasaki last year, but less than three weeks later went on to jump a lifetime best of 2.38m.