News21 Jun 2017


World stars face Britain’s best in London – IAAF Diamond League

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Tianna Bartoletta at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Glasgow (© Jiro Mochizuki)

Thirty-five podium finishers from Rio, including 11 gold medallists, and 10 world champions will compete at the Müller Anniversary Games on 9 July in what could be their final IAAF Diamond League appearance before the IAAF World Championships London 2017 in the same stadium one month later.

The women’s long jump is set to be one of the stand-out events of the meeting. World and Olympic champion Tianna Bartoletta and US compatriot Brittney Reese, a seven-time global champion, will face four of Britain’s best long jumpers, all of whom have won international medals in recent years: world silver medallist Shara Proctor, European indoor silver medallist Lorraine Ugen, European silver medallist Jazmin Sawyers and 2014 world indoor silver medallist Katarina Johnson-Thompson.

“I can’t wait for the Müller Anniversary Games,” said Proctor. “The best athletes in the world always want to compete there, and the stakes are even higher this year because the World Championships is on the same track just a few weeks later.

“The crowd in the London Stadium is always fantastic and I’m sure the send-off for the British athletes will be an amazing spectacle and really loud.”

Many of Britain’s best sprinters will also be in action. 2014 European 200m champion Adam Gemili, who finished fourth at the Olympic Games last year, and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, the only two British men to have run sub-10 for 100m and sub-20 for 200m, will battle it out against a strong 200m field which also includes Britain’s Zharnel Hughes.

Two-time European indoor 60m champion Richard Kilty, 2014 European 100m champion James Dasaolu and fellow sub-10 man Chijindu Ujah will lead the charge for Britain in the men’s 100m.

European indoor champion Andrew Pozzi has enjoyed a fantastic 2017 so far and will face a world-class 110m hurdles field that includes world record-holder Aries Merritt and the silver and bronze medallists from the Rio Olympics, Orlando Ortega and Dimitri Bascou.

The four members of the Olympic bronze medal winning 4x100m women’s relay team – Dina Asher-Smith, Asha Philip, Daryll Neita and Desiree Henry – will line up against each other and the world’s best sprinters in the 100m.

In the 400m hurdles, Olympic silver medallist Sara Slott Petersen will take on 2014 European 400m hurdles champion and Olympic 4x400m bronze medallist Eilidh Doyle, while double European 400m champion Martyn Rooney and 2014 European silver medallist Matthew Hudson-Smith will also go head-to-head in the men’s 400m.

Organisers for the IAAF

2017 IAAF Diamond League calendar:
5 May – Doha, QAT
13 May – Shanghai, CHN
27 May – Eugene, USA
8 Jun – Rome, ITA
15 Jun – Oslo, NOR
18 Jun – Stockholm, SWE
1 Jul – Paris, FRA
6 Jul – Lausanne, SUI
9 Jul – London, GBR
16 Jul – Rabat, MAR
21 Jul – Monaco, MON
20 Aug – Birmingham, GBR
24 Aug – Zurich, SUI
1 Sep – Brussels, BEL

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