Coleman, Baker to renew rivalry in Rome
rome — US sprinters Christian Coleman and Ronnie Baker are set to renew their rivalry on Thursday as the Diamond League heads to Rome for the fourth in the 14-leg IAAF series.
Coleman — who finished between Justin Gatlin and Usain Bolt in the 100m at the world championships last August and went on to win the world indoor 60m title in February with a new world record — lost his outdoor 100m season opener to Baker in Eugene, Oregon, last weekend.
But as the Eugene race was not a Diamond Discipline the Golden Gala in the Italian capital will offer Coleman a first chance to pick up points on the Road To The Final.
US 60m indoor champion Baker, who holds the 2018 world best of 9.97sec, defended his 100m crown in a 2.4m/sec wind-aided 9.78 — the fastest time run this year.
Coleman was second best in 9.84, but the 22-year-old said he was still working his way back into shape after a minor leg injury kept him from competing in Shanghai earlier this month.
Among the US duo’s challengers will be Turkey’s Ramil Guliyev, South African Akani Simbine and American Michael Rodgers.
South African world champion Luvo Manyonga headlines a starstudded men’s long jump in the Italian capital. Manyonga, 27, has already jumped 8.56m this season as he pushes to better the longtime world record of 8.95m achieved by American Mike Powell back in 1991.
Compatriot Rushwal Samaai, Cuba’s world indoor champion Juan Miguel Echevarria, American Marquis Dendy and Olympic champion Jeff Henderson are among his chief rivals.
American world pole vault champion Sam Kendricks’ bid for backto-back wins will be challenged by Poland’s Piotr Lisek, third last weekend, with Brazil’s Olympic champion Thiago, pushing for a way back after he no-heighted in Eugene.
World 100m and 200m women’s silver medallist Marie-Josee Ta Lou won in Eugene, where she ran 10.88 in the 100m to defeat the world and Olympic champions Tori Bowie and Elaine Thompson.
Ta Lou, a 29-year-old from the Ivory Coast, moves up to the 200m in Rome where Shericka Jackson, 23, of Jamaica looks her strongest rival.
In the women’s steeplechase, US world champion Emma Coburn faces a huge challenge from the Kenyan trio of Beatrice Chepkoech, Hyvin Kiyeng Jepkemoi and Celliphine Chepteek Chespol, all of whom have run faster than her personal best of 9:02.58.
“I’m look forward to seeing the fruits of the last six weeks of training. It’s my first time in Rome and I’m really excited about it,” said Coburn. —