Sprints queen Tobi Amusan will not take part in the women’s 100m hurdles event when the latest edition of the Grand Slam Track heads to Philadelphia this weekend.
The event, which is the third stop of the four-meet tour this year, will take place in Franklin Field at the University of Pennsylvania from May 31 to June 1, following previous Grand Slam Track competitions held in Kingston, Jamaica and in Miami, Florida.
However, world record holder Amusan will be absent following the release of the official start list for the women’s 100m hurdles.
Amusan recently took part in the women’s 100m hurdles at the Rabat Diamond League in Morocco last Sunday, clocking a time of 12.45s to set a new meet record, surpassing the previous meet mark of 12.51s set by American Brianna McNeal in 2018. Her performance, also a season’s best, came after two fourth-place finishes in the Xiamen and Shanghai Diamond League events.
For this week’s Grand Slam Track, the spotlight will be on Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who will be making a highly anticipated move to the women’s short hurdle group. The American is coming into the event off the back of consecutive wins in Kingston and Miami. Having dominated the 400m hurdles, McLaughlin-Levrone will shift to the short hurdles in Philadelphia, marking her first race over 100m since 2018, when she ran a wind-assisted time of 11.07s, during her freshman year at the University of Kentucky.
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The Olympic champion will face stiff competition from Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent, who won the Miami Slam. Nugent will be looking to repeat her winning form against McLaughlin-Levrone in what promises to be an exciting clash. Also, Danielle Williams of Jamaica, who pulled off a surprise win in Kingston, could spring up another shock win in Philadelphia.
However, American star Masai Russell, who set a new US record time of 12.17s in Miami, will not compete in Philadelphia due to injury, same as Cyréna Samba-Mayela, but Switzerland’s Ditaji Kambundji, the European indoor 60m hurdles champion and world indoor silver medallist will pose an outside threat. The rest of the field includes challengers Megan Tapper, Tia Jones, Christina Clemons, and Tonea Marshall.
The event will see veteran American sprinter and former world champion Christian Coleman, making his Grand Slam debut.
(Editor: Paul Akhagbemhe)
