‘I am going to get him for sure’

OLYMPIC LONG jump silver medallist Wayne Pinnock will get his first chance at fulfilling his vow to get the better of Greece champion Miltiádis Tentóglou as early as Thursday, just a few weeks after Paris.

Pinnock will be one of 15 Jamaicans in action on Thursday at the Diamond League meet in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The Athletissima Lausanne meet, which will be the 11th staging of the Wanda Diamond League series, will see some 18 Olympic champions in action.

Pinnock will be joined by countrymen Tajay Gayle and Carey McLeod who also competed in the event in Paris.

Tentóglou along with Mattia Furlani of Italy and Simon Ehammer of Switzerland, who were third and fourth in Paris, will also contest the event.

“I know my abilities and I know that one day I am going to get him for sure,” Pinnock had said after losing to Tentóglou in Paris.

The long jumper was hurt at the NCAA Championships and found it tough to get back to his best in time for the Olympics, but that fact has only given him hope.

“Despite the fact that I was hurt two months ago, I never lost hope. I was always confident and remained positive. I am not going to lie, it was a tough journey coming back but I never lost hope. I prayed about it and I am an Olympic silver medallist right now,” Pinnock had said.

After her fifth-place finish in the women’s 400-metre hurdles final in Paris, Rushell Clayton will be hoping to bounce back in style when she contests the event along with three other Jamaicans – Olympic Games finalist Shiann Salmon, Janieve Russell, and Andrenette Knight.

Bronze medallist Femke Bol of the Netherlands is also down to face the starters.

Young Tia Clayton, Jamaica’s sole representative in the 100-metre Olympic final in Paris, will make her Diamond League debut.

She will go up against the likes of the Great Britain duo of Darryl Neita, who was fifth in Paris and Dina Asher-Smith, along with Marie Josee’ Talou-Smith of Côte d’Ivoire.

After failing to finish in the women’s 100-metre hurdles final in Paris, Ackera Nugent, the second fastest over the barriers this season with 12.28 seconds, will be hoping to redeem herself when she contests the event. She will be joined by countrywoman and world champion Danielle Williams, who was a semifinalist in the event in Paris. Silver medallist in Paris, Cyrena Samba Meyala on home soil and bronze medallist, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico, along with Olympic Games finalists Nadine Visser of the Netherlands and the United States duo of Alysha Johnson and Grace Stark are also down to compete.

Rasheed Broadbell, the Olympic Games bronze medallist, will contest the men’s 110-metre hurdles. He will be joined by countryman Hansle Parchment. Grant Holloway and Daniel Roberts of the United States, who captured gold and silver in Paris respectively, also face the starters.

Also on show will be Natoya Goule-Toppin, in the women’s 800 metres, Lamara Distin, in the women’s high jump, and Danniel Thomas-Dodd, in the women’s shot put.