Jamaicans to make Diamond League debut in Morocco
A number of Jamaicans will make their Diamond League season debut today when they compete at the Meeting International Mohammed VI d’Athletisme de Rabat in Morocco, the third stop in the series.
Women sprinters Jonielle Smith and Lavanya Williams as well as sprint hurdler Kerrica Hill will line up in the global track and field series for the first time.
Rajindra Campbell, who broke his own national record last week in Xiamen, China, is down to compete as well as global medallists Bryan Levell, Tina Clayton, and Rushell Clayton.
Smith and Williams, who both lowered their 100m personal bests to under 11 seconds this season, and Tina Clayton, who had competed at the Eugene Diamond League before, are to contest the women’s 100m.
Italy’s World Indoor 60m champion Zaynab Dosso and New Zealand’s Zoe Hobbs are the main contenders to deny the Jamaicans’ dominance in the event.
Levell, the World Athletics Championships bronze medalist will face a strong men’s 200m field that will be led by World Champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, Sinesipho Dambile of South Africa, Andre De Grasse of Canada, and America Kenny Bednarek.
Hill, who ran 12.81 seconds twice on the same day at the Miramar Invitational in early April, is the only Jamaican in the 100m hurdles after Dannielle Williams, Ackera Nugent, and Megan Simmonds ran back-to-back weekends in China.
Hill is to line up against world record holder Tobi Amusan of Nigeria, Devynne Charlton who lowered the Bahamian national record in her last two races, former world record holder Kendra Harrison, and World Champion Ditaji Kambundji of Switzerland who will be hoping to shake off two sub-par outings.
Both Rushell Clayton and Andrenette Knight will be running their first 400m hurdles races this season. The main protagonists in the event are to be Olympic Games silver medallist Anna Cockrell of the United States, Savannah Sutherland of Canada, and Gianna Woodruff of Panama.
Campbell, who is seeking to transfer his national allegiance to Turkiye, threw 22.34m last week in China. He is to face world leader Leonardo Fabbri of Italy and a handful of Americans, including Roger Steen, Jordan Geist and world record holder Ryan Crouser.
Lamara Distin cleared 1.94m last week in China and will hope to improve on that when she lines up against the Ukrainians Yulia Levchenko and Yaroslava Mahuchikh as well as Australia’s Eleanor Patterson.