Fraser-Pryce takes on home hero Asher-Smith in London 100m shootout

AFP | Double Olympic 100 meters champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce will go head to head with British sprint star Dina Asher-Smith at the Anniversary Games in London this weekend.

Jamaica’s Fraser-Pryce, 32, is returning to a happy hunting ground, having retained her Olympics 100m title in the London stadium in 2012.

Fraser-Pryce, who is returning to her best form after clocking a joint world-leading time of 10.73 seconds in Kingston in June, also faces world indoor champion Murielle Ahoure and world 200m champion Dafne Schippers.

British record-holder Asher-Smith, 23, set a season’s best time of 10.91 seconds in finishing second behind Fraser-Pryce at the Lausanne Diamond League meeting earlier this month.

In the women’s 200m, the star attraction is Elaine Thompson of Jamaica, who won a 100m and 200m sprint double at the Rio Olympics.

With the US trials for the world championships taking place the following week, no Americans will take part in either the men’s or women’s 100m at the 2-day meeting, which is part of the Diamond League series.

The men’s 100m pits former Jamaican world champion Yohan Blake against Canadian star Andre De Grasse, who has struggled with illness and injury since winning 3 Olympic medals in 2016.

Britain’s Zharnel Hughes and South African Akani Simbine, who have both gone under 10 seconds this year, are also in the field along with James Ellington, racing for the first time since August 2016 following a motorbike crash that left him with career-threatening injuries.

Qatar high jumper Mutaz Barshim, Greek Olympic pole vault champion Katerina Stefanidi and double Olympic triple jump champion Christian Taylor of the United States will all be competing in London as they prepare to defend their world titles in Doha later this year.

The women’s long jump will see Germany’s world leader Malaika Mihambo go head-to-head with four-time world champion Brittney Reese of the United States and British heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson.

Kenya’s Olympic and world champion Faith Kipyegon leads a women’s 1500m field that also includes Britain’s Laura Muir, who has the 3rd-fastest time of the year over the distance.

Dutch long-distance runner Sifan Hassan heads up the 5000m after she broke the women’s mile record in Monaco last week.

In the men’s 5000m, Norway’s double European champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen will take on Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet, who is 3rd quickest in the world this year.

Aged just 18, Ingebrigsten set the world alight last year as he won double European gold over 1500m and 5000m.

After London there are Diamond League events in Birmingham, Paris, Zurich and Brussels in the lead-up to the world championships in Doha, which start on September 27.