Olympic and world champion Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce begins her campaign to defend her Diamond League athletics title at the Doha meeting, to be held on 9 May.
There are currently no other names better than this 27-year-old Jamaican champion in women’s athletics, and Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce had won the 60 m title a week earlier at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in the Polish city of Sopot, a win that came just seven months after she claimed the world title in the 100 m, 200 m and 4×100 m relay at the World Athletics Championships in the Russian capital Moscow in 2013.
The Jamaican champion was crowned the world’s best female athletics athlete for 2013 thanks to her outstanding performance at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, winning eleven titles from fourteen finals contested in the 100 m and 200 m during the year, and Jamaican Olympic sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce said in remarks: “I enjoy racing in Doha, and I am happy to take part in the Doha Diamond League meeting.
Her presence at the opening event of the fifth season of Diamond League athletics meetings will carry special significance, as she seeks to defend her unprecedented feat of winning both the 100 m and 200 m at the 2013 Diamond League.
The Jamaican champion added: I want to improve myself in the 200 m, I think my performance is good but I believe there is a lot more I can offer so my focus this season will be on raising my level of performance and speed in the 200 m.”
The sprinter concluded by saying: winning both races’ titles again would be my best achievement of the year, let’s see what happens.”
The Jamaican sprinter will compete in her third appearance in Doha in the 100 m sprint, unlike the other distance, which she is preparing to make a promising event for her.
Nigeria’s Blessing and Jamaica’s Kerron to take part
Leading Shelly-Ann Fraser’s rivals in Doha will be Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare, who reached the finals of two events at the World Championships in Moscow, and the 25-year-old Nigerian Blessing Okagbare broke the African record in the 100 m last year when she clocked a time of 10.85 seconds putting her on the fringes of the ten best times ever recorded in this event, and Jamaica’s Kerron Stewart also confirmed her participation in the Doha meeting, and Jamaica’s Kerron Stewart had reached the 100 m final at the World Championships last year and won the silver medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 in the 200 m.
American champion English Gardner leads her country’s participation at the Doha meeting, she is 21 years old and finished fourth at the World Championships last year, and her best mark in her career is 10.85 seconds, and the United States is also represented by sprinter Alexandria Anderson, who joined the sub-eleven-second club when she recorded a time of 10 seconds and 91 hundredths of a second last year, and the two Americans English Gardner and Alexandria Anderson were part of the American team that won the silver medal in the 4×100 m relay at the World Athletics Championships in the Russian capital Moscow, and also competing in this event is American Barbara Pierre, who recorded the fourth-fastest time in 2013 in this event with a time of 10.85 seconds, and Barbara Pierre had finished fourth at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in the Turkish city of Istanbul in 2012.
Merritt, Pavel and Masrahi to take part
The men’s 400 m at the Doha Diamond League meeting will see the participation of the Moscow podium finishers from last summer, in their first event together this season.
American sprinter LaShawn Merritt had dominated this race when he won the World Championships for the second time in the 400 m with a time of 43.74, beating his compatriot Tony McQuay, who finished the race with a time of 44.40 and the Dominican Republic’s Lugelín Santos, who finished third in the race, and Santos had surprised the world by winning the silver medal at the 2012 Olympic Games at the age of 18.
Alongside this trio in this event will be the Czech Republic’s Pavel Maslák, who is considered a rising star in this event after following up his fifth-place finish at last year’s World Championships with a win in the 400 m at the World Indoor Athletics Championships, and the 23-year-old Maslák holds the European title in this event both indoors and outdoors.
Leading the Arabs’ participation in this event is the Asian champion and 2013 World Championships finalist, Saudi Arabia’s Yousef Ahmed Al Masrahi.
