12th May 2017

Shanghai On The Horizon For Brits

12 May 2017 

The second IAAF Diamond League event takes place in Shanghai tomorrow with three British athletes in action. 

The men’s 200m will feature Adam Gemili (coach: Rana Reider) in his first 200m outing of the season looking to build on his solid 100m start when he ran 10.08 (1.8) at the Bryan Clay Invitational in April.  Americans LaShawn Merritt, Wallace Spearmon and Ameer Webb, along with Churandy Martina of the Netherlands will provide excellent competition for Gemili.

In the men’s high jump, Robbie Grabarz (Fuzz Caan) will look to continue his good early season form shown at last Friday’s opening meeting in Doha, where he finished second with a superb 2.31m clearance.

The line-up in Shanghai is extremely competitive, with all top five finishers from last year’s Diamond Race and the Olympic gold and silver medallists set to do battle. After winning on home soil last week to secure maximum Diamond Race points, Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim will be looking to extend his lead against reigning Olympic champion Derek Drouin, the USA’s Erik Kynard, and local hero Zhang Guowei. 

The women’s 400m will see Anyika Onuora (Rana Reider) open her Diamond League account for the year as she aims to back up her previous run over 400m in the USA which saw her clock 51.92, a posting inside the qualifying time for London 2017. Stern competition comes in the form of Stephanie-Ann McPherson and Natasha Hastings, last year’s one and two in the Diamond Race, while Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Novlene Williams-Mills are also set to line up in the stacked field.

For the first time the best male and female discus throwers in the world will compete together at a top level track and field meeting.  The men’s and women’s discus events will be held as part of a single competition with alternating men’s and women’s rounds.  Olympic champion, Christoph Harting and double Olympic champion Sandra Perkovic are amongst those involved in this unique event.

Also involved in the Shanghai Stadium on pace-making duty will be Jenny Meadows (Trevor Painter) in the 1500m and Calli Thackery (Joe Franklin) in the 5000m.

The action will be broadcast on Saturday on Eurosport player live between 12:00-14:00 (UK time) with the session repeated in full between 18:00 and 20:00 on Eurosport 2 with highlights on BBC2 on Sunday 14 March at 1700 hours