FLORENCE, Italy – World 200 meters bronze medalist Jereem Richards of Trinidad & Tobago headlines a handful of English-speaking Caribbean athletes set to run in the World Athletics Diamond League meet on Friday in Florence.
Richards, a two-time Commonwealth Games 200 gold medal-winner, will be seeking to improve on his season’s best time of 20.08 in the half lap of the third Diamond League meet of the season that features a galaxy stars led by Olympic and world gold medalists on parade at the 2023 Golden Gala.
The 29-year-old will face a competitive field that includes American Erriyon Knighton, who has declared one of his goals is to run a sub-19 seconds race this season, Filippo Tortu, a member of the Italy 4x100m Olympic champion team, and Aaron Brown, a member of the Canada 4×100 world champion team.
Former world champion Yohan Blake of Jamaica is among the starters for the marquee men’s 100, which features a rematch of the full podium from last year’s World Championships, after the 11th-hour addition of silver medalist Marvin Bracy to the line-up.
Blake has a season’s best time of 10.18, but he will have to run something near his personal best of 9.69 to upset the American trio of Fred Kerley, Bracy, who replaced Olympic 100 champion Marcell Jacobs of Italy, and Trayvon Bromell.
Former world bronze medalist Rushell Clayton of Jamaica with a season’s best of 54.15 and personal best of 53.33 is expected to push the fancied pair of Dutchwoman Femke Bol and American Anna Hall in the women’s 400 hurdles.
Bol, the newly crowned winner of the heptathlon at the legendary Hypo Meeting in Gotzis, Austria, is unafraid of a challenge after opening her season with a world-leading 53.12 four days ago in Oordegem, Belgium.
The women’s 400 will feature Jamaican Candice MacLeod, whose best time this season has been 51.17, and Guyanese Aliyah Abrams with a personal best time of 50.20 set this year.
