Top athletes line-up for Jamaica Invitational

Montego Bay (Jamaica), April 24 (IANS/CMC)

World and Olympic 400m hurdles champion Melaine Walker has been confirmed for the 100m hurdles at the Jamaica International Invitational (JII) Meet on May 4.

Walker will be running the sprint hurdle in a competitive event for the first time since 2006 when she was a student at the University of Texas.

She is expected to face off with London Olympic Games 100m hurdles silver medallist Dawn Harper of the US, and Jamaica’s Olympic Games semi-finalist Shermaine Williams.

One of the most anticipated events is the women’s 100m, highlighting a clash between Veronica Campbell Brown and American Allyson Felix, and includes double Olympic sprint finalist Murielle Ahoure of the Ivory Coast, and Trinidad’s Kelly Ann Baptiste, who was sixth in London.

World record holder and World and Olympic champion Usain Bolt will run the 200m, along with Olympic bronze medallist Warren Weir, IAAF Diamond League winner Nickel Ashmeade and American Wallace Spearmon.

Jamaica’s Olympic silver medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce will race against Olympic silver medallist Kerron Stewart and American Bianca Knight in the 200m.

Donald Quarrie, athletes’ liaison for the meet, says world 100m champion Yohan Blake, who is nursing an injury, will be missed.

“It’s unfortunate about Yohan, as we really were looking forward to seeing him, but the men’s 100m will still be strong as well as the entire line-ups in the others events,” Quarrie said.

“So far we have the likes of Ryan Bailey, Nesta Carter, Darvis Patton, Lerone Clarke, Richard Thompson, and Kemar Bailey-Cole, all of whom have run under 10.00 seconds.”

Twenty Olympic individual finalists from London have confirmed their entries in the meet that will see the addition of the men’s and women’s discus, a requirement from the IAAF.