Blake goes for first sub-10 this season

Former world 100 metres champion Yohan Blake will be hoping to clock his first sub-10 performance of the season as he headlines a small Jamaican contingent at the Diamond League meet in Paris starting at 11:57 a.m. Jamaica time.

Blake will line up in the men’s 100m at 3:12 p.m in a field that features world 200m champion Noah Lyles of the United States as well as the Olympic champion Lamont Jacobs, who will finally open his outdoor season after withdrawing from scheduled meets because of injury concerns.

Blake ran a season’s best effort of 10.05 seconds at the FBK Games meet in the Netherlands on Sunday to finish second in his third 100m race of the outdoor campaign. He has struggled so far in the Diamond League this season, finishing sixth and seventh in his first two races in Morocco and Italy. However, his progression this year has seen him get faster, having opened in Morocco with 10.18 and then clocking 10.15 in Italy.

Meanwhile, 2019 World championships shot put silver medallist Danniel Thomas-Dodd will line up in the women’s shot put to make her Diamond League season debut at 11:57 a.m., a week after setting the national record with a 19.77m performance on May 27 at the Los Angeles Grand Prix. It was a performance that saw her become the third-best thrower in the world this year. The field includes world champion Chase Ealey (20.6m) and her American compatriot Maggie Ewen (20.45m), the only women who have thrown farther than her this year.

World and Olympics 4x400m relay medallist Candice McLeod will be in a stacked field - at 3:02 p.m. - for the women’s 400m, which includes reigning 400m hurdles world and Olympic champion and world record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, former world champion Salwa Eid Naser, and World Championships silver medallist Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic, who is the fastest woman in the world this year. McLeod’s current season’s best is 51.17.

Natoya Goule rounds off the Jamaican participation in the meet as she competes in the women’s 800m at 2:15 p.m. in her second Diamond League race this season. Goule opened her 800m slate in Morocco, finishing fourth in 2:00.91.

Jamaicans in Diamond League

11:57 a.m: Women’s Shot Put: Danniel Thomas Dodd

2:15 p.m: Women’s 800m: Natoya Goule

3:02 p.m: Women’s 400m: Candice McLeod

3:12 p.m: Men’s 100m: Yohan Blake