Gayle, Goule-Toppin head Jamaicans in action at Doha Diamond League

The focus in the 2024 Wanda Diamond League will switch to Doha, Qatar, today following meets in Xiamen and Shanghai in China.

Five Jamaicans, led by World Athletics Championships representatives Tajay Gayle and Carey McLeod, will compete at the meet. Gayle and McLeod will be making their second appearances this season when they compete in the men’s long jump event at 10:23 a.m. Jamaica time. McLeod was fourth at the Xiamen meet while Gayle was ninth. Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics champion and last year’s World Champion in Budapest, Hungary, will also compete in the event. Gayle, who won gold in the long jump at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, was third in Budapest while McLeod placed fourth.

Three Jamaicans, led by national 800m record holder Natoya Goule-Toppin, will be in action on the track. Goule-Toppin, who will be making her 2024 Diamond League season debut, is down to contest the two-lap event at 11:13 a.m. She will face World champion Mary Moraa of Kenya and the World Indoor silver medallist Jemma Reekie of Great Britain.

Ten minutes after the women’s 800 metres, Andrew Hudson will compete in the men’s 200 metres at 11:23 a. m. Joseph Fahnbulleh of Liberia and Americans Kyree King and Kenneth Bednarek will be Hudson’s main rivals.

Natasha Morrison will close out competition for the country’s athletes as she will contest the women’s 100 metres at 12:28 p.m Jamaica time. Following her surprise 200m win in Shanghai, Great Britain’s Daryll Neita will be hoping for success in the shorter sprint today. Americans Tamari Davis and Celera Barnes, who were members of the country’s successful 4x100m team last Sunday at the World Athletics Relays in the Bahamas, will face the start here.