Three J’cans down to compete at Stockholm DL
Fresh from last weekend’s Jamaican National Championships at the National Stadium, three Jamaicans will continue their preparation for the World Athletics Championships when they participate in today’s Stockholm Diamond League meeting at Stockholm’s Olympic Stadium in Sweden.
Today’s Diamond League meeting will be the last before the World Championships set for July 15-24 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
Jamaican women’s shot put champion Danniel Thomas-Dodd, intermediate hurdler Ruschell Clayton and sprint hurdler Danielle Williams are the Jamaicans down to participate.
Thomas-Dodd, who won her seventh national championships on Saturday, faces a strong field that will be led by the American world number one Chase Ealey and four of the top-five women in the world ranking.
Thomas-Dodd, who has a season’s best 19.53m, just off her national record 19.55m, seems to be peaking in time for the World Championships as she seeks her second medal after taking silver in Doha, Qatar, in 2019.
Ealey threw her personal best 20.51m and Canada’s new national record holder with 20.33m last weekend.
Portugal’s world indoor champion Auriol Dongmo and the Dutch national record holder Jessica Schilder will also add to the depth in the event.
Clayton, the bronze medallist in Doha, has been running well over the last few weeks and clocked a season’s best 54.20 seconds for third at the national championships, enough to book her ticket to Eugene and could run faster today.
Holland’s Olympic silver medallist Femke Bol is expected to lead the field, while Great Britain’s Jessie Knight and the Ukrainian pair of Anna Ryzhykova and Viktoriya Tkachuk will also be hoping to stake their claims with fast times today.
Williams, who was also third on Sunday’s final day of the National Championships, has run 12.59 seconds this year and will hope to challenge the Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, who lost just once in eight races that she completed, world record holder Nia Ali of the USA, Tobi Amusan of Nigeria and Holland’s Nadine Visser.
Jamaicans in Stockholm
10:47 am — Women’s shot put — Danniel Thomas-Dodd
1:04 pm — Women’ 400m hurdles — Ruschell Clayton
1:57 pm — 100m hurdles — Danielle Williams
— Paul Reid