It’s decision day in the women’s 100m final come Thursday at the Zurich Diamond League, and Africa’s 100m Record holder, Blessing Okagbare, will seek to put the disappointments in Beijing behind her as she goes for maximum points in Letzigrund. But standing between the Nigerian and the Diamond Trophy, as well as the $40,000 star prize is her Jamaican foe, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
The Zurich Diamond League is the 13th in the series and first of two finals, with 16 events to be decided at the end of the day. Winners of the remaining 16 events will emerge in the last leg of the series holding in Brussels, the Belgian capital on September 11. The Nigerian sits in second position on the Diamond League standings behind newly crowned 100m world champion, Fraser-Pryce who has amassed 12 points, as against Okagbare’ eight points.
Cote d’Ivoire’s Murielle Ahouré and Tori Bowie follow in seven and five points each. Okagbare has only beaten Fraser-Pryce once in the series, taking the victory in Shanghai in 10.98s, while the Olympic champion finished 5th with a time of 11.25s. Incidentally, that was the only victory recorded by the Commonwealth double champion this year.
Fraser-Pryce has since bounced back, winning her other races in the Diamond League in Eugene, Paris and Stockholm. The six-time Nigerian champion placed 4th in Eugene despite an impressive time of 10.87s, 2nd in Paris (10.80s), and 2nd in London behind Dafne Schippers (10.98s). She also ran two races in 200m where she finished 2nd behind Bowie in New York (22.67s) and Monaco where she was disqualified for a violation.
Considering that the Top 3 competitors will be awarded double points in Zurich, Okagbare’s best hope for the trophy is to secure a victory, while hoping that Fraser-Pryce finishes outside the Top 3, which is highly unlikely, save for some strange occurrence. She narrowly lost the top prize to Veronica Campbell-Brown last year, which was a sort of anticlimax to a brilliant season that saw her emerge as Commonwealth champion in the sprint double.
Some respectable elite athletes in the line-up are Beijing 2015 Bronze medallists in 100m and 200m respectively, Bowie and Campbell-Brown; others are Michelle-Lee Ahye and Kelly-Ann Baptiste, finalists in the 100m and part of the Trinidad and Tobago quartet that ran a National Record (NR) of 42.03s in the 4x100m to place third behind Jamaica and USA. Completing the star studded list are another World Championships finalist, Natasha Morrison and home girl Mujinga Kambundji.
National 400m Hurdles Champion, Miles Ukaoma will also be gunning for redemption in Zurich after not making it past the heats at the World Championships. He finished 5th in the heats in 49.38s and narrowly lost out on a place in the semis. That notwithstanding, Ukaoma has had a commendable year after racing to a Personal best (PB) and Championship Record (CR) of 48.84s at the Nigerian Trials in Warri.
Although not a Diamond Race, the 2014 NCAA Champion will seek to fine tune his preparations ahead of the All-Africa Games where he will face surprise World Champion in the event, Kenya’s Nicholas Bett. In Zurich Ukaoma will be racing against European Champion Kariem Hussein, Jamaica’s Annsert White, Great Britain’s Niall Flannery and Estonia’s Rasmus Magi for the top position.
World champion and leader in the 400m, Wayde Van Niekerk will be going against former World Champion and Bronze medallist, Kirani james who tops the Diamond League standings. However, Oslo winner Steven Gardiner could prevail if his two more illustrious rivals haven’t fully recovered from their Beijing exertion. Finalist Isaac Makwala will also be in action on Thursday.
Despite not having won a Diamond League race this season, World Championships Bronze medallist Anaso Jobodwana leads the 200m race, but is only a point ahead of Alonso Edward who is a major threat. The South African and Panamanian both clocked the same time of 19.87s in Beijing, but Jobodwana was awarded Bronze. As such the Berlin 2009 Silver medallist will be aiming for revenge in Zurich.
