Jamaicans tune up in Oslo before National Championships
NATIONAL champions Nickisha Pryce, Rushell Clayton, Jordan Scott and Danniel Thomas-Dodd are among seven Jamaicans set to compete at the Oslo Bislett Games in Norway, the last Wanda Diamond League meeting before the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) National Championships, June 18-21 at the National Stadium.
Women’s long and triple jumper Ackelia Smith, men’s triple jumper Jaydon Hibbert, and 400m hurdler Andrenette Knight are the other Jamaicans listed to compete.
Pryce is coming off a third-place finish in the women’s 400m at the Rome Diamond League meeting a week ago and will again face the two athletes who beat her then, Norway’s Henriette Jaeger and Lurdes Gloria Manuel, who set a Czechia national record.
Great Britain’s Amber Anning and the Netherlands’ Lieke Klaver will add depth to the field.
Clayton has run back-to-back season’s best 400m hurdles times and is ranked third in the world with 53.14 seconds. She will face in-form world leader Emma Zapletalova of Czechia as well as fifth-ranked Gianna Woodruff of Panama and American Jasmine Jones.
Knight, who was fifth at the USATF Grand Prix in College Station, Texas, on Saturday, hopes to improve on her season’s best 55.25 seconds.
Scott remains the world triple jump leader with 17.66m but suffered his first defeat of the season when he finished second in Rome. He will again face Italy’s Andy Diaz Hernandez, who won for a third-straight time.
Also down to compete is Portugal’s Pedro Pichardo, the 2025 World Athletics Championships gold medallist and 2024 Olympic Games silver medallist, who will make his first competitive appearance of the season.
Hibbert, who was third in Rome, is also entered along with Cuba’s Lazaro Martinez and France’s Melvin Raffin.
World No 7 Thomas-Dodd has been competing against the best throwers in the world throughout the season and will line up against them again in the women’s shot put.
The Netherlands’ Jessica Schilder, who became the first woman to throw beyond 21.00m since Valerie Adams in 2012, leads the field that also includes American Chase Jackson, Commonwealth Games champion and two-time World Athletics Indoor champion Sarah Mitton of Canada, and Sweden’s Fanny Roos.
Smith will contest the triple jump and take on a talented Cuban trio led by Davisleydi Velazco, who has already jumped 14.85m, Leyanis Perez Hernandez and Liadagmis Povea.
Olympic champion Thea LaFond of Dominica and Senegal’s Saly Sarr are also entered.