Gayle, McLeod hope for improved Diamond League performances
Jamaica’s long jump World Athletics Championships finalists Tajay Gayle and Carey McLeod will hope for improved results when they line up in the Doha Diamond League on Friday.
Both Gayle, the bronze medallist from last year’s World Athletics Championships, and McLeod had finished off the medal podium in the most recent Diamond League in Shanghai, China.
The long jumpers are to face off against World and Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece, Simon Batz of Germany, and William Williams of the United States.
Gayle and McLeod are among five Jamaicans who are down to feature, with national champions Natoya Goule-Toppin and Andrew Hudson as well as Natasha Morrison listed among the competitors.
Goule-Toppin, who failed to get into the final at the World Championships last year, is to make her first outdoor appearance in the 800m this season. She will be up against a strong field that is expected to include Kenya’s Mary Moraa, Habitam Alemu of Ethiopia, and Great Britain’s Jemma Reekie.
Hudson, the two-time men’s 200m national champion and World Athletics finalist, is set to take on the likes of American Courtney Lindsey, former National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) champion Joseph Fahnbulleh of Liberia, and another American Kyree King.
Morrison, a multiple global relay medallist, is to contest the women’s 100m alongside American Tamari Davis and Great Britain’s Daryll Neita.