A mouth-watering women’s 100m race that will see the first clash between the three Jamaican medallists from last month’s World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, and including six of the eight finalists, will highlight today’s Athletissima meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, the final race before the final of the Wanda Diamond League series.

Jamaicans Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Shericka Jackson and Elaine Thompson-Herah — the gold, silver and bronze medallists in the women’s 100m in Eugene, respectively — will headline 14 Jamaicans who are down to compete.

Most of the world’s top track and field stars will be among those seeking to qualify for the Diamond League final to be held in another Swiss city, Zurich, which will host the Weltklasse meeting over two days on September 7 and 8.

Twelve athletes who won individual titles in Eugene, including 200m champion Jackson, and 12 from last year’s Olympic Games, including sprint double champion Thompson-Herah, are expected to line up today.

In addition to the women in the 100m, Olympic champion Hansle Parchment and Commonwealth Games champion Rasheed Broadbell will contest the 110m hurdles; Commonwealth Games gold medallist Janieve Russell, Andrenette Knight and Rushell Clayton will line up in the women’s 400m hurdles; Commonwealth champion Shanieka Ricketts and Kimberly Williams are set for the women’s triple jump; World Championships silver medallist Britany Anderson will run the 100m hurdles; Candice McLeod and Stephenie-Ann McPherson are down for the women’s 400m; and NACAC champion Andrew Hudson will compete in the men’s 200m.

However, it’s the women’s 100m that will attract most of the attention for the fans, the prospects of fast times a real possibility with three of the six fastest women ever lining up.

Fraser-Pryce, who has run 10.70 seconds or faster seven times already this year, combines with Thompson-Herah for 119 sub-11.00-second clockings, and with Jackson, have swept the medals in the last two major global championships. Thus, they are expected to finish 1-2-3 again today.

The 35 year-old Fraser-Pryce, who has won 14 global gold medals, and who is the world leader with 10.62 seconds, said at Thurday’s pre-competition press conference that she has not run her fastest possible time yet.

“I don’t think a perfect race exists because of being a sprinter, really,” said Fraser-Pryce who ran her lifetime best 10.60 seconds on the track last year. “I want to have one of those races where everything comes together, or something that doesn’t work I am able to counter that maybe at 60 or 70 metres. So for me, I definitely think that watching the race and having my coach telling me what is happening, and if I am able to fix or tweak a few things, [then] I…will be able to run faster than 10.6.”

Fraser-Pryce, who has run 10.67 seconds four times this year — including in the finals in Eugene — admitted she surprised herself when she opened her season in Nairobi, Kenya, with what was then the world-leading time.

“I was shocked when I ran the 10.6 in Kenya because I had travelled all the way from Kingston and was a bit tired…but then my execution was good and I realised that the key to running fast and have consistent times it to practise my technique — and then to be able to have that consistency is definitely wonderful.”

Thompson-Herah, whose Commonwealth Games sprint double went a ways to atone for her bronze in the World Championships 100m final, said she looks forward to high-level competitions such as this one as they bring out the best in the athletes.

“I want to see how quickly I can get to 30m or 60m against the boys, and I think when I do line up with the girls you try to get the same execution that you want — you don’t want to not have the same focus,” she said at the pre-event press conference.

Thompson-Herah said she enjoys racing against the top sprinters as “it gets you fast times”.

Jackson, who won the women’s 100m title at last weekend’s NACAC Championships in The Bahamas, said she was looking forward to today’s race.

“I love having competition, especially with sprinters; I think they are beasts on the track and I think I enjoy competing with them because they bring out the best in each other — and I believe [today] will be great, despite who wins.”

The Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josee TaLou, who ran a personal best 10.71 seconds earlier this month, could be a threat to separate the Jamaicans, should one slip up, while the Americans Aleia Hobbs (10.81 seconds), Twanisha Terry (10.82) and Tamari Davis (10.83) are all having their best-ever seasons.

There will be high expectations from the Jamaican fans in the sprint hurdles races in which Parchment and Broadbell in the 110m hurdles, and Anderson in the 100m hurdles, are expected to do well.

After being denied shots at medals at both the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games because of injuries, Parchment ran a season’s best 13.08 seconds two weeks ago despite a slow start, the same time that Broadbell ran to set the Commonwealth Games record.

If the big Jamaican gets the start today it could be a close race with Broadbell, World champion Grant Holloway, and his American teammate Trey Cunningham.

The 100m hurdles will feature the three medallists from Eugene where Anderson broke the national record in the semi-finals, on her way to a silver medal, and will go up against new world record holder Tobi Amusan of Nigeria and Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, the bronze medallist.

Throw in the American duo of Kendra Harrison and Nia Ali, as well as Holland’s Nadine Visser, and you have another race that is expected to be competitive and close.

World Championships silver medallist and Commonwealth Games champion Shanieka Ricketts will continue her pursuit of double world record holder Yulimar Rojas in the women’s triple jump where the veteran Kimberly Williams will also take part.

Ricketts has flirted with the 15.00m mark a few times this year, with marks of 14.94m and 14.91m in her last two events, and would be battling Rojas as well as Ukraine’s Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk who won the European Championships last weekend, American Tori Franklin, and Portugal’s Patricia Mamona.

Andrenette Knight will finally get a chance to match up against some of the top 400m hurdles runners in the world after she fell while leading in the finals at the Jamaican national championships in June and missed out on a place at the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games.

Going into the Jamaican championships, Knight’s 53.39 seconds was the second best in the world and best by a Jamaican. Since then she has had to watch as Russell retained her Commonwealth Games title, passed her on the Jamaican list with 53.33 seconds, and also witnessed Shiann Salmon as she won the NACAC title.

Today three Jamaicans will face European champion Femke Bol of Holland, former world record holder Dalilah Muhammad of the USA, Panama’s Gianna Woodruff, and the Ukrainian pair of Anna Ryzhykova and Viktoriya Tkachuk.

Stephenie Ann McPherson and Candice McLeod will line up in a women’s 400m race that will feature World championships silver medallists Sada Williams of Barbados, the Dominican Republic pair of Marileidy Paulino and Fiordaliza Cofil, and Great Britain’s Jodie Williams.

Fresh from his win at the NACAC Open Championships, Hudson, the Jamaican national champion, has been added to the men’s 200m race where he will face a tough field led by World Champion Noah Lyles, his American teammates Erriyon Knighton and Michael Norman, as well as Trinidad and Tobago’s Jereem Richards.