Source: www.newsday.co.tt
NATIONAL 200M champion Richard Thompson is set to showdown with World and Olympic sprint double champ Usain Bolt in the Men’s half-lap event at the DN Galan Diamond League meeting in Sweden tomorrow. Thompson, the Olympic 100m silver medallist, is running the 200m for the first time this season and has a personal best of 20.18.
Unsurprisingly, Bolt will be the favourite to take the gold medal having registered a blistering 19.86 earlier this year.
Although well below his personal best time of 19.19 set at the World Championships in 2009, the Jamaican sprint sensation is expected to have no trouble dominating his peers.
The field includes a bevy of Jamaicans - Marvin Anderson, Nickel Ashmeade and Ainsley Waugh.
Meanwhile, local sprint queen Kelly-Ann Baptiste will be in action in a star- studded Women’s 100m event. Baptiste will come up against the likes of USA’s Carmelita Jeter (two-time World Athletics gold medallist), Bahamian Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie (Olympic relay gold medallist) and Jamaican Kerron Stewart (2009) Olympic relay champion). Baptiste has been in excellent form this season, dipping below the 11 seconds barrier with a sublime 10.91 performance.
Jeter is the class of the field with a personal best of 10.64 seconds which she came close to equalling with a 10.70 seconds sprint this season.
Ferguson-McKenzie (11.09SB) and Stewart (10.87SB) are expected to challenge for honours as well.
World Championships bronze medallist Renny Quow is in the provisional list for the men’s 400m event as well. 2011 CAC shot putt champion Cleopatra Borel-Brown is in the provisional list for the Swedish Diamond League stop too.