The Nigerian sprint duo of Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor and Tobi Amusan have both been listed to compete at the ninth leg of the IAAF Diamond league (DL) set to take place at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, Morocco, on Friday.
Okagbare-Ighoteguonor, the African Record holder in the 200m, will be competing in the half-lap event for the first time in the DL this season after previously running in the 100m at four previous meets.
Also, this will be the third time she will be running in the North African city as she made her first appearance in 2016 where she clocked a time of 11.11s to finish 2nd to Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson in the 100m. She followed suit with an 11.03s run to place 4th in 2017.
However, the Glasgow 2014 double GOLD medallist will go into Friday’s race buoyed by the fact that she has the fastest time (22.04s) by any woman in the 200m this year.
Standing in her way to victory are the Ivorian duo of Marie Jose Ta Lou and Murielle Ahoure, as well as Shaunae Miller-Uibo who will be hoping to dominate the event in Rabat.
Unlike her compatriot, Amusan will be competing at the Rabat DL for the first time, after just making her DL debut in Rome two months ago.
The sprint hurdler will be aiming to go one better than the 12.83s run she posted in the women’s 100m Hurdles at the Golden Gala, a race she placed 3rd.
She will be up against the reigning Olympic Champion and DL standings leader Brianna McNeal, and Beijing 2008 Olympic Champion Dawn Harper-Nelson.
