Ja stars on show at Adidas meet

THERE WILL be a strong contingent from Jamaica at this weekend’s Adidas Boost meet in Boston.

Commonwealth Games silver medallists Hansle Parchment and Danielle Williams will take their places in stacked sprint hurdles fields. The 2011 World 100 metres champion, Yohan Blake; precocious sprinter Briana Williams; and 2014 Commonwealth 200 champion Rasheed Dwyer will also be there.

The star of the show is expected to be IAAF World Championships 400m silver medallist Steven Gardiner, who has already run under 44 seconds twice this season. On the raised street track in Boston, the Bahamian will run the 200m, an event in which he logged a national record of 19.75 last month. Among his rivals will be Commonwealth champion Jereem Richards of Trinidad and Tobago.

The men’s 110m hurdles will see Parchment face Spain’s Olympic silver medallist Orlando Ortega and the top two from the World Indoor Championships, Briton Andrew Pozzi and American Jarret Eaton.

The women’s 100m hurdles field includes Williams, Jamaica’s 2015 World champion; newly crowned Commonwealth champion Tobi Amusan of Nigeria; and the US pair of Sharika Nelvis and Christina Manning.

Blake will face Commonwealth champion Akani Simbini of South Africa and America’s 2007 World 100m and 200m world champion Tyson Gay in a quality 100m match-up.

The 16-year-old Williams will compete in the Girls’ Dream 100m, which will be contested on the same tracks as the seniors. The Florida-based Jamaica set an age-15 world best of 11.13 over 100m earlier this season and sped to an under-17 sprint double at the Carifta Games in The Bahamas.

Dwyer and training partner Shashalee Forbes will test their speed over 150 metres. Dwyer’s Sprintec Club teammate Rhonda Whyte, the Commonwealth Games 400m hurdles finalist, will try the 200m variety.