24 May 2013

The third leg of the 2013 IAAF Diamond League gets underway on Saturday afternoon, with a number of British athletes making their way across the Atlantic for the Adidas Grand Prix in New York.

Christine Ohuruogu (coach: Lloyd Cowan) will once again face Olympic champion Sanya Richards-Ross, who makes her season debut, as the Olympic silver medallist looks to get the better of her American rival for the first time in five years. Current IAAF Diamond League champion Amantle Montsho will also line-up in the 400m alongside Shana Cox (George Williams), a member of GB & NI’s European Indoor 4x400m relay winning squad from Gothenburg.

European Indoor champion Holly Bleasdale (Dan Pfaff, Scott Simpson) will kick off her IAAF Diamond League season in the pole vault as she goes up against some of the world’s best at the Icahn Stadium. Bleasdale, who  jumped 4.60m in her opening competition of the outdoor season in Scottsville last weekend, will go up against current World Champion Fabiana Murer, Olympic silver medallist Yarisley Silva and Olympic Champion Jenn Suhr, who broke the World Indoor record earlier this year with a clearance of 5.02m.

London 2012 Olympian Shara Proctor (Rana Reider) will continue her season after jumping 6.82m in Doha – just 13cm off her British record. The 24 year old will come up against the in-form Olympic gold medallist Brittney Reese, who jumped a lifetime best of 7.25m in Doha two weeks ago – the best jump in the world for nine years.

A week after making the 1500m qualification standard for the Commonwealth Games, Eilish McColgan (Liz McColgan) will line up in the 3000m steeplechase against Olympic bronze medallist Sofia Assefa and Lidya Chepkurui, who set a personal best of 9:13.75 on her way to victory in the opening IAAF Diamond League in Doha. McColgan will have her sights set on the qualification standard of 9:43.00 for Moscow and could challenge her Scottish record of 9:38.45. 

World record holder and Olympic gold medallist David Rudisha will once again headline the 800m field after setting a world leading time of 1:43.87 in Doha. Olympic finalist Andrew Osagie (Craig Winrow) finished in eighth place in that race and will be looking for a strong run against a field that boasts three sub-1:43 runners – Rudisha, Timothy Kitum and Mbulaeni Mulaudzi.

Current Power of 10 leader Michael Bingham (George Williams) will join Kevin Borlee and Jeremy Wariner in a competitive 400m field that will be broken into two races, with the European Indoor 4x400m champion looking to build on a 45.37 performance at the Atlanta Grand Prix last weekend.

You can tune into the action from the Adidas Grand Prix in New York on Saturday 25 May between 18:00-20:00 BST on the BBC Red Button.