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Sport

GP showdown!

Fraser-Pryce, Jeter clash at Birmingham meet

PAUL A REID Observer writer reidp@jamaicaobserver.com

Sunday, August 26, 2012



BIRMINGHAM, England — IAAF Diamond League leaders Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Kaliese Spencer will head 12 Jamaicans who will compete at the Aviva Birmingham Grand Prix Diamond League meet today at Birmingham Alexander Stadium, starting at 1:10 pm UK time (7:10 am Jamaica time).

With just two events to go in Zurich and Brussels, points will be at stake in what is expected to be a keenly-contested meet in front of a sold out crowd of 13,000.

Fraser-Pryce, the Olympic 100m champion who leads the Women's ranking in the event, will join compatriots Aleen Bailey and Sherone Simpson in a race to be run as heat and final.

Fraser-Pryce will clash with American Carmelita Jeter, who beat her four days ago in Lausanne, Switzerland.

In a pre-event press conference in Birmingham on Friday, Fraser-Pryce, who won back-to-back Olympic titles, deflected any claim to being a legend, at least not yet.

"If I win in 2016 and become the first woman to win three 100m titles in a row, then maybe I will become a legend," she said.

Spencer, who was fourth in the Olympic 400m hurdles final, returns to England after winning in Switzerland last week and will face Olympic gold medallist Natalya Natalya Antyukh of Russia and bronze medalists Zuzanna Hejnova of Czech Republic.

Spencer, who won the Diamond League title last year, leads with 12 points and clocked a season best 53.49 seconds on Thursday in beating Antyukh and Hejnova.

Hansle Parchment, the Olympic Men's 100m hurdles bronze medallist, will face a slew of Americans again, led by Olympic champion Aries Merritt, who told the press conference on Friday he is going after the world record time of 12.87 seconds held by Cuba's Dayron Robles.

Parchment was third in Switzerland in 13.15, just off his personal best and national record of 13.12 set in the Olympic final, just losing to David Oliver.

Olympic finalists Kimberly Williams and Trecia-Kay Smith will take part in the triple jump event. They will face Olympic champion Olga Rypakova, bronze medallist Olha Saladukhal and former world champion Tatyana Ledbedeva.

Nickel Ashmeade and Mario Forsythe will face Americans Tyson Gay and Wallace Spearmon in the 200m.

Olympic 4x400m relay bronze medallists Rosemarie Whyte, who was also in the 400m final, and Shericka Williams, will run the quarter-mile.

Rushane McDonald who was a courageous fourth in Lausanne will face World Junior champion and Olympic silver medallist Luguelin Santos of the Dominican Republic, American Angelo Taylor and Britain's Martyn Rooney.



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