Could it be Dacres’ day?
WITH ONLY two rounds of the Diamond League to go for discus throwers after today’s Stockholm leg of the competition, Jamaica’s Fedrick Dacres needs to be in top form if he is to keep himself firmly in the mix.
The 24-year-old has already thrown a personal best distance of 68.88m in February this year and is looking every bit the class athlete many believed he would develop into.
The two-time national champion and former World Junior and World Youth champion will have his work cut out when he steps in the circle pitted against the likes of Piotr Malachowski, Philip Milanov and home favourite Daniel Stahl, who, after his victory in Oslo, is the joint leader of the competition thus far.
But a win here for Dacres at the Stockholm Olympic Stadium would represent a huge stride towards winning the 2017 Diamond League competition outrightly. Seven of the eight competitors in the men’s discus at Stockholm also find themselves in the top eight of the qualification standings, adding to the excitement and quality of the competition. The event starts at 1:20 p.m. (Ja time).
Also flying the flag for Jamaica in a nonDiamond League 100m race will be Ryan Shields. The 34-year-old has already run his fastest time ever this year and, while he is very much in the swansong years of his career, he is expected to put on a respectable display against a reasonably talented field.
COMPETITIVE RACE
Unfortunately, Shields is not in the mix with the calibre of athletes that will be vying for supremacy in the 100m Diamond League race in Stockholm, which features Briton Adam Gemili, Dutch sprinter Churandy Martina and the winner of the Oslo 100m, Andre De Grasse. None of the aforementioned have dipped under ten seconds this season, but weather permitting, it is expected to be a competitive race.
Elsewhere, highlights are expected from the likes of Cote d’Ivoire’s Murielle Ahoure and Canada’s Crystal Emmanuel in the 200m. With both athletes having dipped under 23 seconds already this year, the duel between the two should be an interesting spectacle.
The same can be said of the men’s 400m, which sees Baboloki Thebe of Botswana go up against Steve Gardiner of The Bahamas.