Jackson, Richardson clash to highlight Doha Diamond League opener

The 2022 World Championships 100m silver medalist Shericka Jackson faces a strong field in the short sprint on the opening event of the Wanda Diamond League season in Doha, Qatar, this Friday.

The event will feature 14 Diamond League disciplines.

Jackson, who was the 2022 World Championships 200m gold medalist, will line up against Americans Sha’Carri Richardson, Twanisha Terry, and Abby Steiner, as well as Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith and New Zealand’s Zoe Hobbs, among others.

Jackson has a season’s best of 10.82 seconds, while Richardson ran a wind-aided 10.57 seconds in Miami last month.

Meanwhile, Jamaicans Candice McLeod and Stephenie Ann McPherson are down to contest the women’s 400m  in a crack field which includes Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulinho, Barbados’ Sada Williams, as well as American Shamier Little, among others.

The Caribbean will also be represented in the women’s 100m hurdles with Puerto Rico’s Olympic Games champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn and Jamaica’s Megan Tapper competing against the likes of Americans Nia Ali, Alaysha Johnson and Tonea Marshall along with others.

On the men’s side, the Dominican Republic’s Alexander Ogando will contest a competitive 200m event with the likes of Fred Kerley, Michael Norman and Kenneth Bednarek of the US, as well as the Canadian pair of Aaron Brown and Andre De Grasse.

Cuba’s Lazaro Martinez will vie for top honors in the triple jump, while Grenada’s Anderson Peters and Trinidad and Tobago’s Keshorn Walcott are hoping to make their presence felt in the javelin throw.