Bailey-Cole, Powell clash again in Zagreb
JAMAICA’S Commonwealth Games champion Kemar Bailey-Cole and former world record holder Asafa Powell will clash over the 100m for the second time in less than a week when they meet at an IAAF World Challenge meeting in Zagreb, Croatia, today.
Five Jamaican men will compete at the meet, which is the penultimate in the series that will end in Rietti, Italy, on Sunday.
Last week, Bailey-Cole beat a strong field to win the 100m at an IAAF Diamond League meeting in Zurich and has been unbeaten since he won the gold at the Commonwealth Games in Scotland.
Powell is slowly returning to top form since he returned to competition after serving a six-month ban after testing positive for a stimulant at the Jamaica National Senior Trials last year. He has a season’s best 9.87 seconds set at a meeting in the USA two weeks ago.
American Mike Rodgers, who is still in the race for the IAAF Diamond League title, Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago, and St Kitts & Nevis’ Kim Collins are also down to run.
Sheldon Mitchell, who was second to Usain Bolt in his final race of the season in Poland, will contest the men’s 100m B race alongside seven Croatian runners.
Commonwealth Games men’s 110m hurdles champion Andrew Riley makes his first appearance since winning gold in Glasgow.
He will face a strong field that includes world record holder Aries Merritt, who is trying to come back from an injury, Russian World Championships medallist Sergey Shubenkov, and in-form Cuban Orlando Ortega.
World Championships 4x400m relay silver medallist Edinho Steele will line up in the men’s 400m, where he faces Botswana’s Isaac Makwala as well as Great Britain’s Martyn Rooney.