Diamond League debut for Stona

OLYMPIC discus champion Roje Stona will make his Diamond League debut in Rome today.

Stona is one of 10 Jamaicans set to compete at the Golden Gala Wanda Diamond League meet and will be in action for the first since his historic win in Paris. The Jamaican thrower has, in fact, never competed at a Diamond League meeting and will become the first track and field athlete in history to make his or her Diamond League debut after winning Olympic gold.

In Paris Stona threw a personal best 70.00 metres for his win and will renew rivalry with Olympic Games silver medallist Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania, the 2022 World champion, Kristjan Ceh of Slovakia, Paris Olympic medallist Matthew Denny of Australia and World champion Daniel Stahl of Sweden.

With the late withdrawal of Olympic 100m silver medallist Kishane Thompson, Ackeem Blake will be the only Jamaican in the men’s event. Coming off a third-place finish at the Silesia meet where he equalled his personal best of 9.89 seconds Blake will face a strong line-up. The field will include Paris Olympic Games bronze medallist Fred Kerley of the United States and his teammate Christian Coleman, Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya, Paris 200m gold medallist Letsile Tebogo of Botswana and Marcel Jacobs of Italy.

Orlando Bennett and Omar McLeod will contest the men’s 110m hurdles, a non-Diamond League event, while Olympic Games shot put bronze medallist Rajindra Campbell and high jump finalist Romaine Beckford will also be in action.

Following her heroics in Poland last Sunday when she broke the meet record twice, sprint hurdler Ackera Nugent will face another strong field in the women’s 100m hurdles. Nugent who clocked 12.29 seconds for the win will renew rivalry with Olympic champion Masai Russell of the United States and her teammate Alaysha Johnson, a finalist in Paris, Cyrene Mayela Samba of France who won silver in Paris and fourth-place finisher Nadine Visser of the Netherlands.

The trio of Andrenette Knight, Janieve Russell and Shiann Salmon will run in the women’s 400m hurdles where they will take on American Anna Cockrell, the surprise silver medallist in the event at the Paris Olympics.

Schedule for Jamaicans

12:30 p.m.: Men’s discus – Roje Stona

1:15 p.m.: Men’s shot put – Rajindra Campbell

2:15 p.m: Women’s 100m hurdles -Ackera Nugent

2:20 p.m.: Men’s high jump –Romaine Beckford

2:55 p.m.: Men’s 110m hurdles – Orlando Bennett, Omar McLeod

3:28 p.m.: Women’s 400m hurdles – Andrenette Knight, Janieve Russell, Shiann Salmon

3:52 p.m.: Men’s 100m – Ackeem Blake

– R.G.