17 May 2013

After the season opener in Doha last Friday, Shanghai is the next calling point for the IAAF Diamond League on Saturday, with the event once again drawing some of the biggest names in the sport.

After his heroics in London last summer, Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford (coach: Dan Pfaff) will look to continue from where he left on as he faces a competitive field, which includes current World Champion Dwight Phillips, former Olympic gold medallist Irving Saladino, European Indoor champion Aleksandr Menkov and 2012 long jump bronze medallist Will Claye. There will also be British interest from joint British outdoor record holder Chris Tomlinson (Rana Reider) and J.J Jegede (Peter Stanley), who has jumped a season’s best of 8.05m this year.

One of the highlights of the meet will be the return to the track of Olympic gold medallist Kirani James, who will face a formidable line-up including Olympic silver and bronze medallists Luguelin Santos and Lalonde Gordon, as well as 2008 Olympic champion LaShawn Merrit and Britain’s Olympic semi-finalist Conrad Williams (Linford Christie).

After his season opener in Doha ended with a fourth place finish, Robbie Grabarz (Fuzz Ahmed) will be looking to get back to winning ways as the 2012 IAAF Diamond League champion goes up against the three men that beat him last Friday – Aleksandr Shustov, Mutaz Essa Barshim and Bohdan Bondarenko.

Don’t forget you can watch some of the world’s best athletes in action this summer at the Sainsbury’s Grand Prix – Birmingham (29-30 June) and the Sainsbury’s Anniversary Games (26-28 July). 

Tickets are still available for the Sainsbury’s Grand Prix – Birmingham – visit http://www.britishathletics.org.uk/media/news/march-2013/09-05-13-birmingham-ipc/ for further information.