KINGSTON, Jamaica — Fourteen Jamaican athletes, including Olympic Games medallists Wayne Pinnock and Rasheed Broadbell, will be seeking to confirm spots in next week’s Diamond League finals in Brussels, when they compete at Thursday’s 14th stop, the Weltklasse in Zurich.

The top athletes in the world have been competing on the Diamond League circuit since April, accruing points along the way to be among the finalists for the season ending two-day finals where the winners of each of the 32 disciplines will win the Diamond trophy and US$40,000.

A number of Jamaican athletes who will not be competing Thursday, have already secured a place in the final, including Ackeem Blake in the men’s 100m, Romaine Beckford in the men’s high jump, Fedrick Dacres in the men’s discus throw, 100m hurdles national record holder Ackera Nugent, 400m hurdles national champion Rushell Clayton along with Janieve Russell and Andrenette Knight in the women’s 400m and Olympic triple jump silver medallist Shanieka Ricketts and Danniel Thomas-Dodd.

National record holder and two- time Diamond League women’s 200m defending champion Shericka Jackson has also qualified as well as Hansle Parchment who competes tomorrow.

The spots in the men’s long jump are wide open and Pinnock who is in seventh place in the rankings along with second ranked Carey McLeod and fourth placed Tajay Gayle will hope to confirm their places.

They will take on number one ranked Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece, the Olympic games and two-time World Championships gold medallist and Simon Ehammer of Switzerland.

Broadbell is ranked number 10 and a top three performance tomorrow could see him join fifth ranked Parchment as they go up against Olympic champion Grant Holloway of the United States and his compatriot Daniel Roberts and France’s Sasha Zhoya.

Lamar Distin will also need a high finish to secure her place in the women’s high jump final as she is ranked at number 10 in the Diamond League and will go up against World and Olympic champion and world record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine, Australians Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson and a second Ukrainian Iryna Gerashchenko.

Roshawn Clarke is another athlete who will also need to turn around his form when he lines up in the men’s 400m hurdles and will go up against Diamond League leader Alison dos Santos of Brazil, number two ranked CJ Allen of the United States and world record holder Karsten Warholm of Norway, who is ranked seventh, and also seeking to cement his place in the final as well.

Olympic Games shot put bronze medallist Rajindra Campbell is ranked sixth in the points tables and goes up against Diamond League leader Joe Kovacs of the United States, World and Olympic champion Ryan Crouser, Leonardo Fabbri of Italy and Nigeria’s Chukwuebuka Enekwechi.

Olympic Games women’s 100m finalist Tia Clayton is ranked number eight after just two races and will hope to pencil in her name in the final with another good run Thursday.

Clayton is coming off a win in Silesia, Poland and faces a strong field that will include Olympic champion Julien Alfred of St Lucia, third ranked Dina Asher-Smith of Great Britain, second ranked Marie Josee Ta Lou-Smith of the Ivory Coast, Olympic silver medallist Sha’Carrie Richardson, who is ranked number 11, and Diamond League leader Tamari Davis of the United States.

Russell, Knight and Shiann Salmon are the Jamaicans in the women’s 400m hurdles race where they are up against Olympic silver medallist Anna Cockrell and Shamier Little, both of the United States.

Danielle Williams, the third ranked athlete in the 100m hurdles, is expected to secure her place in the final when she takes on Diamond League leader Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico, Olympic champion Masai Russell, who is ranked fourth, as well as Grace Stark of the United States and Cyrene Samba-Mayela of France.

— Paul Reid