Jamaica’s Olympic Games gold medallists Omar McLeod and Elaine Thompson will seek to extend their great starts to the track and field season when they compete at the second IAAF Diamond League meeting in Shanghai, China, today.

Action gets under way at 11:00 am Jamaican time.McLeod, the world leader, will seek to defend his 110m hurdles title against a powerful field, while Thompson will contest the women’s 100m.Nine Jamaicans will participate in the event that follows the opening Diamond League meeting in Doha last week.McLeod, who opened his season with a splendid 13.04 seconds in rainy conditions at the Drake Relays two weeks ago, just missed the meet record 12.97 seconds last year when he ran 12.98 seconds, the fastest time of 2016, on his way to winning Jamaica’s first Olympic gold medal in Rio.Today, he will have compatriot and Jamaica’s national record holder Hansle Parchment, who was second last year alongside him as well as Spain’s Orlando Ortega, who took silver in Rio, American David Oliver, world record holder Aries Merritt and world champion Sergey Shubenkov of Russia in what is the most competitive field of any event on the schedule.After her brilliant start in the 200m in Doha, Thompson who ran a wind-aided 10.75 seconds (2.2m/s) at the UTech Classic last month and has had some fast relay legs in the Bahamas and Philadelphia, will start favourite not just to win but to post a fast time if conditions are right.Christania Williams, who won a relay silver medal in Rio, and the well-decorated veteran Veronica Campbell Brown, will be the other Jamaicans in the field. Americans Tiana Bartoletta and Tori Bowie, as well as the Ivory Coast’s Murielle Ahoure, are expected to battle for the other places on the podium.Campbell Brown is the fastest Jamaican so far this year after running 11.06 seconds in Florida two weeks ago, while Bartoletta ran 11.08 seconds at a meet in California a month ago.A trio of Jamaican women — Stephenie-Ann McPherson, Anneisha McLaughlin-Whilby and Novlene Williams-Mills — will contest the 400m which will see Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas make her competitive debut.American Natasha Hastings will also make her individual event debut in the one-lap event.In the men’s 400m hurdles, Olympic Games finalist Annsert Whyte will hope to improve on his last-placed finish in Doha last week when he takes on the likes of Javier Culson of Puerto Rico, Kerron Clement of the USA and LJ Van Zyl of South Africa.