Two-time Olympic Games sprint double champion Elaine Thompson-Herah and World Athletics 100m champion Sha’Carri Richardson of the USA are set to clash over the 100m at the Prefontaine Classic, the fourth stop in the Wanda Diamond League at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

The women will meet for the first time since last year’s staging when Thompson-Herah placed third and Richardson in the aftermath of her three-medal haul from the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, was fourth as Shericka Jackson stole the show to win the Diamond trophy.

The women’s 100m will feature a star-studded line-up on a schedule that is packed with some of the world’s top athletes with 12 Jamaicans including Olympic 110m hurdles champion Hansle Parchment, world 100m hurdles champion Danielle Williams and two-time World Championships silver medallist Shanieka Ricketts.

While Thompson-Herah and Richardson will be headliners, St Lucia’s Julien Alfred, Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith of the Ivory Coast, Mellisa Jefferson of the USA, and Daryll Neita of Great Britain will also fancy their chances.

Both Thompson-Herah and Richardson will be running their first 100m of the season and expectations might have to be tempered despite this track being known to produce fast times.

World Indoor men’s 60m bronze medallist Ackeem Blake, who will be lining up in his seventh 100m race of the season, and Sandrey Davison are in the men’s equivalent where they will face American Brandon Hicklin, the only man with a sub-10.00 seconds time this season in the line-up, former world champion Christian Coleman, Rikkoi Brathwaite of the British Virgin Islands, and Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala.

Parchment will hope to win the event in back to back years after he had upset the field in 2023, running his personal best 12.93 seconds but three-time world champion Grant Holloway of the USA will seek to atone for his loss.

Americans Daniel Roberts and Cordel Tinch, who occupy the top two places on the world charts, and Japan’s Shunsuke Izumiya are also in the line-up.

World Athletics Championships finalist Roshawn Clarke will line up for his second 400m hurdles race of the season after opening with 48.11 seconds in Los Angeles a week ago and will accompany compatriots Malik James-King and Jaheel Hyde as they take on world leader Rai Benjamin who ran 46.64 seconds, also in Los Angeles.

Ricketts and Kimberly Williams will take on world leader Thea Lafond of Dominica in the women’s triple jump that will also see Tori Franklin and Jasmine Moore.

Ricketts, who ended the 2023 season on a high with two jumps over 15.00m in her final three competitions, and opened her season with 14.50m two weeks ago, is tied for third in the world.

Williams will compete in the 100m hurdles which, while it is not a part of the Diamond League programme, is as competitive and deep as any other event on the schedule, missing only world record holder and world leader Tobi Amusan of Nigeria from the top six in the world.

Tonea Marshall, the world number two, Nia Ali is number three, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn is number four, Williams is fifth and World Indoor record holder Devynne Charlton of The Bahamas are expected to line up.

Natoya Goule-Toppin will line up in a women’s 800m race where she will face three women’s who have already ran under 1:58.00 seconds — Mary Moraa of Kenya, Halimah Nakaayi of Uganda, and Tsige Duguma of Ethiopia as well as American record holder Athing Mu, who is making her seasonal debut.

Rajindra Campbell will contest the men’s shot put against a quality field led by Americans Joe Kovacs and Payton Otterdahl, their American compatriot Roger Steen and Nigeria’s Chukwuebuka Enekwechi.