Thompson Herah, Gayle lead Jamaica’s charge at Miramar Invitational
A number of Jamaican athletes, led by Olympic Games double sprint champion Elaine Thompson Herah and World Champion long jumper Tajay Gayle, will take part in the Miramar Invitational at Ansin Sports Complex in Miramar, Florida, on Saturday as part of the World Athletics Continental Tour.
It will be the first outing of the outdoor season for a number of Jamaicans at the meet which will see several top athletes kick-starting their journey to the Olympic Games later this year in Tokyo, Japan.
Thompson Herah, who ended last season as the top female 100m sprinter, will contest the women’s 200m along with World Under-20 champion Briana Williams.
They are expected to face the embattled World 400m champion Saiwa Eid Naser of Bahrain and Americans Jenna Prandini, who is ranked number three in the world so far, and Quanera Haynes.
Gayle, the national record holder and gold medallist from Doha in 2019, has jumped over 8.00m only once in four outings so far this season and will line up in a field that will also include Americans Marquis Dendy and Charles Brown.
World Championships bronze medallist Nesta Carter will be the only Jamaican man in the 100m and he will take on a field that will include Americans Mike Rodgers, Justin Gatlin and Ronnie Baker.
A trio of Jamaican women — Jonielle Smith, Nataliah Whyte and Natasha Morrison — will take part in the 100m where Americans Sha’Carri Richardson and English Gardner, as well as the Jamaica-based Bahamian Anthonique Strachan will be hoping to get their seasons off to good starts.
Andrew Riley and Ronald Levy, the last two Commonwealth Games champions, will carry the Jamaican flag in the 110m hurdles, but they will find recently minted World Indoor record holder Grant Holloway of the United States, world number three-ranked Nicholas Anderson and Eddie Lovett of the US Virgin Islands in their way.
Janeek Brown and Shermaine Williams will contest the women’s 100m hurdles, an event that is expected to be hotly contested amongst the Jamaicans this year, and will battle world number five-ranked Gabby Cunningham of the USA, Kristi Caslin, World Record holder Kendra Harrison and Great Britain’s Tiffany Porter.
Rasheed Dwyer, Julian Forte and Akeem Bloomfield, amongst the best Jamaican men over the 200m, will contest the half-lap event in which Canada’s Aaron Brown and American Kenny Bednarek are expected to contest for top honours.
Nathon Allen will be the only Jamaican in the men’s 400m, a tough event that will include Americans Will London and Michael Cherry and Colombian Anthony Zambrano.
Stephenie-Ann McPherson will fly the Jamaican flag in the women’s 400m and will face world leader Shamir Little, Shakira Wimbley and Barbados’s Jamaican-based Sada Williams.
Natoya Goule will line up for her first outdoor 800m race and will take on American world leader Ajee Wilson, world number eight Allie Wilson and Canada’s Alexandria Bell.
Rajay Hamilton will compete in the men’s 800m while Shawn Rowe will race in the men’s 400m hurdles.