News27 Apr 2022


Global hurdles gold medallists to clash at Birmingham Diamond League

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Hansle Parchment competes at the Paris Diamond League (© Getty Images)

Global sprint hurdles gold medallists Hansle Parchment, Omar McLeod and Andrew Pozzi are to renew their rivalry at the Müller Birmingham Diamond League on 21 May.

The Birmingham meeting, which returns to the recently redeveloped Alexander Stadium, is the second stop on this season’s Wanda Diamond League calendar.

Racing on home soil, Britain’s 2018 world indoor 60m hurdles champion Pozzi will go up against reigning Olympic champion Parchment and his Jamaican compatriot McLeod, the 2016 Olympic champion, in the 110m hurdles.

The trio will be joined in an impressive line-up by world bronze medallist and reigning European champion Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, who was fifth in Tokyo and runner-up at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22, plus his French teammate Aurel Manga and Great Britain’s David King.

“We have a packed season of athletics ahead and I have big goals,” said Pozzi. “I’ve been training well, and I know that the times I’m capable of can get me on to the podium, I just have to keep working hard until I reach those standards and at the right time.

“I was disappointed not to reach the final of the World Indoors in Belgrade, but I’m continuing to make progress as I build towards the start of the summer and the prospect of three huge championships to aim for.

“Having finished seventh in the Tokyo Olympic final, I want to improve on that in Eugene and I’m excited to do so. I was sixth in the final of the Europeans in 2018, so I’ve got unfinished business there, and of course the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham – which is so close to home for me – will be incredibly special with friends and family filling the stands. I have so much to look forward to and I’m excited to compete in the refurbished Alexander Stadium and to get things back underway at the highest level at the Müller Diamond League in Birmingham.”

At the Wanda Diamond League Doha on 13 May, world champion Dina Asher-Smith will take on Olympic medallists Christine Mboma, Gabby Thomas and Shericka Jackson in the 200m.

Namibia's Mboma claimed Olympic 200m silver in Tokyo and also won the world U20 title last year, while USA's Thomas is the Tokyo 200m bronze medallist, who also claimed Olympic 4x100m silver in Japan. Jackson, meanwhile, secured 4x100m gold as part of the Jamaican team in Tokyo and also claimed bronze in the 100m and 4x400m.

After a 2021 season disrupted by injury, Britain's Asher-Smith is looking forward returning to Diamond League action as she prepares to defend her global and European titles in Eugene in July and Munich in August, respectively.
 
"I won my first global title in Doha in 2019, so I have incredibly happy memories of competing there," said the 26-year-old. "After a challenging year last year, I can’t wait to get back on the circuit and see what I can do this summer."

Organisers for World Athletics