Paris 2024 Olympics-bound Nigerian track and field stars Tobi Amusan, Favour Ofili, Udodi Onwuzurike, and Chioma Onyekwere will today participate in USATF NYC Grand Prix at Icahn Stadium, New York, USA.
The list of super stars to feature in the women’s 100m hurdles of the marquee event includes Amusan, who set a stunning world record of 12.12 to win the 2022 world title and leads the 2024 world list at 12.40; American record holder and former owner of the world record Keni Harrison; and the Tokyo silver medalist who picked up bronze at Budapest last summer. She has a PB of 12.20 and a season best of 12.60 that won in Atlanta last week. Former Purdue star Devynne Charlton, who brought World Indoor gold and a world indoor record in the 60H back to the Bahamas in March and was fourth at Budapest, Tonea Marshall, who has a ‘24 best of 12.42; World Indoor fourth-place finisher Masai Russell, a semifinalist at Budapest with a PB of 12.36; and Jamaica’s reigning Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, the bronze medalist at the 2022 World Championships in Oregon.
Onyekwere, who set her national record of 64.96 last year and has competed at three World Championships, will vie for honours in the women’s discus against Cuba’s Yaime Perez, who uncorked the farthest throw in the world for more than 30 years with a 73.09 at Ramona, Oklahoma, on 13 April. Rachel Dincoff, who is returning to competition after a hiatus due to injury and has a PB of 65.46, and Micaela Hazlewood, who was the 2021 Olympic Trials runner-up with a best of 62.54.
Onwuzurike, who won the NCAA 200 for Stanford last year in 19.84 and has a PB of 19.76 in the deuce, and also clocked 9.92 in the 100 last year will fancy his chances at podium finish in the men’s 100m running against Fred Kerley, a member of the select group of men who have run sub-10 in the 100, sub-20 in the 200, and sub-44 in the 400 and ranked second on the all-time combination sprinter rankings behind a guy named Bolt, Kerley, who won the 2022 World Championships 100 gold and has Olympic silver from Tokyo to go with a bronze in the 400 at the 2019 World Championships, with PB of 9.76 that ties him for the No. 2 spot on the all-time U.S. performer list, youngster Pjai Austin, who zipped to a PB 9.89 at the NCAA Championships last year for Florida and is the fifth fastest collegian ever and winner of the Atlanta ATL meet last week in 10.03, Kendal Williams, who recently lowered his PB to 9.93 and he has Pan American Games 4×100 gold from 2015. Two former collegiate aces also sport sub-10 PBs, and former West Texas A&M star Benjamin Azamati of Ghana, an Olympian in Tokyo who helped his country to a fifth-place finish in the 4×100 at Oregon 22, has a 9.90 PB from the Texas Relays in 2022.
In the women’s 100m, Ofili, who recently ran a windy 10.78 at Baton Rouge and was a semifinalist in the 200 at the past two World Championships, will race for honours against Jamaica’s reign. Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, Gabby Thomas, and New Zealand’s Zoe Hobbs, among other top
contenders.
