There’ll be a mad rush for crucial qualifying points when the final preliminary series in the Wanda Diamond League gets underway Thursday in Zurich.
Several Jamaicans have already secured their spots for the Diamond League Final in Brussels, but four more will be fighting to join them.
National high jump champion Lamara Distin sits seventh with 13 points and must finish in the top six in Zurich to qualify.
Wayne Pinnock and Tajay Gayle are fourth and sixth respectively in the men’s long jump, and they too must hold on to top-six positions.
Megan Simmonds, currently sixth in the 100-metre hurdles with 19 points, will have to watch anxiously from home as the Zurich results could determine her fate.
Jonielle Smith also has work to do.
She holds the eighth and final qualifying spot in the 100 metres and faces a star-studded field featuring Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Julien Alfred, Sha’Carri Richardson and fellow Jamaica’s Tina Clayton and Brianna Lyston.
Former national champions Ackera Nugent and Danielle Williams are out of contention, but will line up in the hurdles against world leader Masai Russell, world record holder Tobi Amusan and world champion Ditaji Kambunji.
World Championship bronze medallist Bryan Levell returns from injury in the 200 metres, while Rushell Clayton, already qualified, contests the 400-metre hurdles.
Navasky Anderson faces Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi in the 800 metres, and Rajindra Campbell rounds out the Jamaican contingent in the shot put.
