Three of the top four female sprinters in the world, including the reigning World and Olympic champions, will headline the 100m dash at the June 9 adidas Grand Prix, set to begin at 1:00 p.m. at Icahn Stadium in New York, meet organizers have announced.
Carmelita Jeter, Kelly-Ann Baptiste and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, ranked Nos. 1, 3 and 4, respectively in 2011, will do battle in the short sprint.
Now in its eighth year, the adidas Grand Prix on Randall’s Island, will feature dozens of Olympic medalists and World champions, including the reigning World champion at 100m, Jamaica’s Yohan Blake. The meet will again be the sixth stop on the international Samsung Diamond League circuit, and is part of the Visa Championship Series.
On her way to being ranked No. 1 in the world at 100m for the third consecutive year, the 32-year-old Jeter won 100m gold and 200m silver at the 2011 IAAF World Championships. She also anchored the U.S. squad to gold in the 4x100m relay. The second-fastest woman in history with a personal best of 10.64secs, Jeter was dominant from start to finish last year, winning 11 of her 12 100m races.
Baptiste, 25, from Trinidad and Tobago, is the 2011 World Championships 100m bronze medalist. Her personal best of 10.84 is a national record.
Fraser-Pryce, also 25, is the reigning Olympic gold medalist and 2009 World champion at both 100m and the 4x100m relay. Finishing fourth, just 1/100ths of a second behind Baptiste in Daegu last summer, Fraser-Pryce ran the first leg on the Jamaican 4x100m team that set a national record on the way to taking the silver medal.
Wariner to Defend 400m Title
On the men’s side, Jeremy Wariner is looking toward his third Olympics and will return to Icahn Stadium to defend his 400m title. The 28-yr-old already has four Olympic medals: gold for the 400m in 2004 and in the 4x400m relay in 2004 and 2008, and 400m silver in 2008. He also owns five World Championships titles, including individual gold in 2005 and 2007, and has been ranked No. 1 in the world five times (2004-2007, 2010).
On his return from a torn toe ligament that kept him out of the World Championships last summer, Wariner anchored his Central Texas All-Star 4x400m relay team to victory on March 31 at the Texas Relays. Married last November, Wariner and his wife, Sarah, are expecting their first child in October.