McColgan’s Diamond date

Eilish out to sparkle in Rome

Dundee Hawkhill Harrier Eilish McColgan takes another step to what she hopes will be an appearance at the World Championships when she faces a a world-class field at tonight’s Diamond League meeting in Rome.

McColgan lines up in the 5,000m with high hopes of bettering her personal best of 15 minutes 05 seconds following her 15:07.43 when she came sixth at the Eugene Diamond League last month.

The race will see another world-record attempt for Genzebe Dibaba, who came up short when chasing older sister Tirunesh’s mark of 14:11.15 in Eugene.

However, this time the Ethiopian is likely to have more company in the shape of Kenya’s Hellen Obiri, who clocked 14:22.47 for the distance in Shanghai, three seconds quicker than Dibaba managed in Eugene a fortnight later.

Scottish Commonwealth Games athlete Stephanie Twell is also in the field as she bids to build on her second place at the UK 10,000m trial last month.

Others in Rome include Kenya’s Irine Cheptai, the reigning world cross country champion, and Ethiopian junior Letesenbet Gidey.

The women’s 400m hurdles, not a Diamond League event in Rome, sees Kinross athlete Eilidh Doyle contest her second race over the barriers this season following a low-key race in the Netherlands.

The race will bring together two-time world champion Zuzana Hejnova and European champion Sara Petersen.

The men’s 110m hurdles will be one of the most competitive events featuring Olympic silver medallist Orlando Ortega and GB’s Andrew Pozzi while worldrecord holder Aries Merritt is the fastest in the field this year.

The field event highlight should be the men’s javelin. Germany’s Olympic champion Thomas Rohler delivered the best performance in the world in the 21st century with 93.90m at the 2017 opening Diamond League in Doha.