7 months ago
22
Several top names in the world of track and field will take to their blocks today at the National Stadium as Grand Slam Track (GST) is set for its debut in Kingston with eight events scheduled to take place.
GST is a new professional track league spearheaded by American Olympian Michael Johnson and will host four meets, called slams, on an annual basis.
The track league has attracted several of the leading athletes in their various fields, some of which will be making their competitive debut in Jamaica.
One of the marquee events on the schedule will be the men’s 100 metres in the short sprints race group, set to begin at 7:21 p.m.
The race will see the Jamaican duo of Oblique Seville and Ackeem Blake taking on the the 2022 World champion Fred Kerley of the United States and his compatriot, Kenneth Bednarek.
Former Kingston College schoolboy stand-out, Zharnel Hughes of Great Britain, will also line up in the race.
World record-holder and reigning Olympic champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the United States will make her first appearance on Jamaican soil when she lines up in the women’s 400m hurdles.
McLaughlin-Levrone has broken the 400m hurdles world record six times in her career and is a heavy favourite to dominate in the women’s long hurdles race group.
She is set to be challenged by three Jamaicans, national champion Rushell Clayton and her teammates Shiann Salmon and Andrenette Knight. Dalilah Muhammad of the USA, the 2016 Olympic champion, will also throw her hat into the ring to challenge McLaughlin-Levrone in the highly anticipated race.
On the men’s side, homegrown favourite Roshawn Clarke will face off against Brazilian Alison dos Santos in the 400m hurdles in a world-class field.
Clarke, who ran a new personal best in the 400m at Velocity Fest 16 last month, looks to be in terrific form ahead of the race.
Santos, however, holds the advantage with a better head-to-head and a quicker personal best of 46.29 seconds compared to Clarke’s 47.34.
Also in contention will be Malik James-King who had seen a meteoric rise last season when he lowered his personal best by two seconds, clocking a new mark of 47.42.
SPRINT RIVALRIES
The women’s 200m is also expected to bring fireworks to the National Stadium as the 200m Olympic champion Gabrielle Thomas of the USA will make her debut on Jamaican soil.
Thomas, who is of Jamaican descent through her father, will face off against Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain who has been in brilliant form this year.
Eid Naser opened her outdoor season with a 22.45 clocking last week at the Felix Sanchez Classic in the Dominican Republic, before she stunned the crowd, running 48.94 in the 400m in dominant fashion.
Also in the line-up will be the reigning Olympic 400m champion Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic, the reigning 400m World Indoor champion Alexis Holmes of the USA and Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith.
The Jamaican pair of Nickisha Pryce and Stacey-An Williams will also contest the event as they look for important wins in front of the home support.
The winners of each race will earn points in their assigned race groups where, at the end of the three-day meet in Kingston, the athlete with the most points from their group will be crowned the Kingston Slam champion.
Today’s schedule:
5:42 p.m: Women’s 200m
5:53 p.m: Men’s 400m
6:04 p.m: Women’s 3000m
6:21 p.m: Women’s 800m
6:34 p.m: Men’s 400m hurdles
6:46 p.m: Women’s 400m Hurdles
6:56 p.m: Men’s 5000m
7:21 p.m: Men’s 100m
English (US) ·