A look ahead to the second meeting in the IAAF Diamond League series, with Jade Lally, Lorraine Ugen and Michael Rimmer among British athletes in Shanghai
Following the series-opener in Doha on May 6, IAAF Diamond League action continues in Shanghai on Saturday (May 14).
Olympic and world 800m champion David Rudisha is among those competing and is looking to improve on the 1:44.78 he clocked for victory at the Melbourne World Challenge meeting in March.
Speaking at the pre-event press conference, the 27-year-old said he is targeting a time of around 1:43.50. That would smash the meeting record of 1:44.63 which has stood since 2008.
“I want to run a fast time in Shanghai,” said Rudisha. “I think I can run something like 1:43.50 and perhaps get a season’s best. That would be a good performance for me here.”
Several British athletes will also be making the long trip to China.
Michael Rimmer is among those who will be lining up alongside Rudisha in the 800m. Jade Lally is part of a strong discus line-up led by Sandra Perkovic and Denia Caballero, while in the women’s long jump, Lorraine Ugen takes on a field that includes Americans Tianna Bartoletta and Janay DeLoach. The men’s long jump sees Dan Bramble facing, among others, American Jeff Henderson.
Elsewhere, a strong shot put contest sees Americans Joe Kovacs and Ryan Whiting take on Poland’s Tomasz Majewski.
The pole vault sees the Beijing 2015 world champion, Canada’s Shawn Barber, against the world record-holder, France’s Renaud Lavillenie.
A strong 5000m features Yomif Kejelcha, Hagos Gebrhiwet and Thomas Longosiwa.
Justin Gatlin and Kim Collins are in the men’s 100m, while Veronica Campbell-Brown contests a women’s 200m which will now be missing Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce through injury.
A timetable and entry lists can be found here.
» athleticsweekly.com-sponsored coverage will be shown live on British Eurosport 2 from 12pm BST on May 14
