Two-time and reigning Olympic champion, Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah, will make her highly anticipated 2024 season debut this Saturday, May 25th 2024, at the Diamond League Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon.
The event promises to be a thriller as Thompson-Herah will compete in the women’s 100m against a glittering lineup that includes reigning world champion Sha’Carri Richardson. The American sprinter, competing on home turf, will be competing in her first 100m individual race this year after a couple of 200m races in the Xiamen and Shanghai/Suzhou Diamond League’s.
The race marks the first encounter between Thompson-Herah and Richardson since last September’s Diamond League Final in Eugene, where Thompson-Herah narrowly edged out Richardson to claim the third spot with a season-best time of 10.79 seconds, just ahead of Richardson’s 10.80 seconds.
In addition to Richardson, the women’s 100m lineup also includes CĂ´te d’Ivoire’s Marie-JosĂ©e Ta Lou-Smith, who secured silver in the same Diamond League Final, and Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred, the World Indoor 60-metre champion.
Viewers can expect an epic clash as these athletes battle for supremacy in the 100m. For Thompson-Herah, who skipped all the individual events at the 2023 World Championships and the World Indoor Championships earlier this year due to injury, this race will be crucial test of her early-season form and also a guiding factor in her preparation for the upcoming Paris Olympics.
As the countdown to the race begins, all eyes will be on Hayward Field to witness what might be a dress rehearsal for the 2024 Olympics women’s 100m final.
