Key battles expected as Gabby Thomas, Emmanuel Wanyonyi & Co learn rivals for Grand Slam Track in Kingston

The men’s short sprints and women’s long sprints will be the hotly-contested events at Grand Slam Track following the lineups released on Wednesday for the opening leg in Kingston, Jamaica.

Grand Slam Track, whose first of the four legs, will take place in Kingston from April 4-6, has unveiled its matchups for the different races and it is in the men’s short sprints and women’s long sprints where the focus will likely be.

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This is because the men’s short sprints has Olympics 200m silver medalist Kenny Bednarek, Fred Kerley, Olympics 100m bronze medalist, Jamaica’s Oblique Seville and compatriot Ackeem Blake, Britain’s Zharnel Hughes, American Courtney Lindsey, Terrence Jones and Liberian Joseph Fahnbulleh.

In the women’s long sprints, multiple Olympics champion Gabby Thomas is up against Marileidy Paulino, the 400m Olympics champion, Nickisha Pryce, Alexis Holmes, Salwa Eid Naser, Dina Asher-Smith, Talitha Diggs and Stacey Ann Williams.

American Brittany Brown, the Olympics 200m bronze medalist, Britain’s Daryll Neita, American Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Tamara Clark and Nigerian Favou Ofili are the star names in the women’s short sprints, with Alana Reid, Jacious Sears and Kemba Nelson also in the lineup.

Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi, the Olympics 800m champion, will renew his rivalry with world champion Marco Arop in the men’s short distance that also has American Cole Hocker, Josh Kerr of Britain, American Yared Nuguse, Bryce Hoppel, Neil Gourley and Mohamed Attaoui.

Mary Moraa, the world 800m champion, will contest the women’s short distance alongside fellow Kenyans Nelly Chepchirchir and Susan Ejore as well as Jess Hull, Nikki Hiltz, Diribe Welteji, Heather MacLean and Jamaican Natoya Goule-Toppin.

The men’s long distance is led by American Grant Fisher, with Kenyan Ronald Kwemoi also in the mix, as well as Hagos Gebrhiwet, Cooper Teare, Thierry Ndikumwenayo, Dominic Lobalu, Dylan Jacobs, Telahun Haile Bekele while the women’s equivalent has Kenyan Agnes Ngetich, Nozomi Tanaka, Tsige Gebreselama, Elise Cranny, Hellen Ekalale, Whittni Morgan, Melissa Courtney-Bryant and Ejgayehu Taye.

The competition will unfold in three days at the new-look National Stadium in Kingston with $100,000 at stake for winners of each discipline.