FOUR OF Jamaica’s reigning national champions are set to headline the Monaco Diamond League today with Nickisha Pryce, Megan Tapper, Jordan Scott, and Romaine Beckford all set to compete.
The four are part of a contingent of six Jamaican athletes scheduled to take to the Stade Louis II Stadium.
Pryce, the back-to-back-to-back national champion in the women’s 400 metres, will line up in her preferred event against the Dominica Republic’s Marileidy Paulino.
Paulino, the second-fastest woman in the world this year, is expected to continue her impressive season but will also face a stern challenge from the United States’s Aaliyah Butler, who enters with a season and personal best of 49.26 seconds.
Poland’s Natalia Bukowieckan is also expected to challenge as she stands as one of only three women in the line-up to have dipped below the 49-second mark in her career.
In the women’s 100m hurdles, Tapper looks to continue her resurgence as she faces off against several of the sport’s top names.
Tapper, entering with a new personal best of 12.34, will take on the US trio of Masai Russell, Grace Stark, and Ali Armstrong.
All three athletes will be in their best form, with Russell and Stark registering new personal bests this year, 12.17 and 12.21, respectively.
Armstrong, on the other hand, holds a season’s best of 12.49, just outside her personal best of 12.40.
Bahamas’ Devynne Charlton will also look to throw her hat in the ring as the reigning two-time women’s 60m World Indoor champion looks to make another statement this season.
Jordan ‘Mr Diamond League’ Scott will once again return to the sand pit, looking to add another Diamond League win to his cabinet.
The reigning Jamaican men’s triple jump national champion has been in the form of his life this season, posting three personal bests and winning three of his four Diamond League appearances.
A win today would see him claiming his third Diamond League win in a row, following wins in Paris and Olso.
Andrenette Knight, who finished second at the National Championships, will face a stern task when she lines up against Dutch star Femke Bol in the women’s 400m hurdles.
Bol, one of two women to have gone below the 51-second mark in the event, is expected to lead from the front
The US duo of Dalilah Muhammad and Ana Cockrell will also be looking to claim major win by crossing the line first.
The final two Jamaicans on the schedule. Men’s national high jump champion Romaine Beckford and Raymond Richards will compete in that event, with the former making a bid to clear the World Championships qualification mark of 2.30 metres.
Beckford has gone as high as 2.26 this season, and Richards jumped to 2.30 in March.