Nugent leads record number of Jamaicans into Diamond League final

A RECORD number of jamaicans will be in action this Friday and Saturday at the King Boudouin Stadium in Brussells, home of the Allianz Memorial Van Damme – the 15th and final stop of the Wanda Diamond League.

Thirty-two Diamond League champions will be crowned over the two days, each receiving a cash prize of US$30,000 (J4,702,935) and a beautiful diamond trophy.

Sprint hurdler Ackera Nugent looks the best placed Jamaican to claim a title. If she does, it will make it three Diamond League wins in a row.

After failing to finish in the final at the Paris Olympic Games, her disappointment at the Paris Olympic Games where she failed to finish in the event, she has been at her best since. After a close third-place finish in Lausanne she has gone on to win at the Rome and Silesia meets breaking both meet records including a world leading and personal best 12.24s at the Rome meet.

She will be joined in the event by countrywoman Danielle Williams, the world champion in the event. The lineup will also include the in-form Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico, who is coming off back-to-back World Continental Tour successes, Cyrena Mayela-Samba of France, and Grace Stark of the United States, who were both finalists in Paris.

Rushell Clayton will lead four Jamaicans in the women’s 400m hurdles. Clayton has been having her best season on the Diamond League circuit, picking up wins in Marrakech and Oslo, while finishing second in Stockholm, and third at Lausanne, Silesia and London. With a season’s best of 52.31 seconds, she will be hoping to end the season on a high.

Shiann Salmon, who is coming off her first Diamond League success in Zurich, posting a personal best 52.97, Janieve Russell, with a season’s best 53.33 and Andrenette Knight, with a best of 53.68, will join Clayton in Brussells.

Femke Bol of Netherlands, with a best of 50.95, and surprise Olympic silver medallist Anna Cockrell of the United States, with a best of 51.87, will also face the starters.

Shanieka Ricketts, who picked up a Diamond League win in Silesia, and Ackelia Smith, in the triple jump, Natoya Goule in the 800 metres, and Danniel Thomas-Dodd in the shot put, will be the other Jamaican women in action.

Wayne Pinnock, in the long jump, seems the best placed Jamaican man, after he got the better of Greece’s Miltiadis Tentaglou, the world and Olympic champion for the first time in Zurich.

Carey McLeod and Tajay Gayle will also face the long jump pit in Brussells.

Roshawn Clarke will contest the men’s 400-metre hurdles and will have national champion, Malik James-King for company.

Ackeem Blake and Rohan Watson will contest the 100-metre Diamond League final, while Rajindra Campbell will take his chances in the shot put. Returning from injury, Fedrick Dacres will go in the discus final, while the ever-improving Romaine Beckford will challenge the high jump bar.