Olympic and world champion over the 4x100m, Morolake Akinosun of the USA, tops the leaderboard for entries over the 100m and 200m at this weekend’s 32nd AtletiCAGenève Memorial Georges Caillat in Switzerland.
The Illinois state champion is only joined by Yongli Wei of China as the two athletes with sub-11 lifetime bests in the field. Akinosun’s personal best dates back to July 2016 when she was just 22-years-old. Most recently however, she has been competing around the 11.3 mark, with her season’s best this year standing at 11.20. You’ll be able to watch her and a host of other top-class talent including; 2017 French 100m champion Carolle Zahi and Canadian 100m and 200m champion Crystal Emmanuel. British interest includes our #OnestoWatch in 2019 Kristal Awuah and Georgina Adam.
Many short sprint athletes will double up for the 200m as well, which will also feature Finette Agyepong, Gloria Hooper and local lady Sarah Atcho. Akinosun and Wei are again the quickest athletes on paper in the field, but it’ll be all to play for on the day.
The men’s sprints are equally stacked, as 2016 European 100m gold medallist Churandy Martina of Netherlands is entered for the double. Top of the leaderboard for the 100m however is Zhenye Xie of China, who is the only athlete in the field to have broken the 10-second barrier (9.97). Portugal have a strong presence in the sprints also, with David Lima (10.05) and Carlos Nascimento (10.13) second and third fastest on paper. Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and Joel Fearon are the British interests in the 100m, with World junior 200m silver medallist Charlie Dobson going in the 200m alongside European bronze medallist Alex Wilson of Switzerland.
Talking of British interest, Guernsey record holder Cameron Chalmers will go against 8-time Paralympic champion Blake Leeper of the USA in the 400m, who has a personal best of 44.42 set in Prague last year. Chalmers younger brother Alastair will compete over the 400m hurdles with the likes of 2011 world champion Dai Greene and 2014 European champion Kariem Hussein of Switzerland. In the women’s one lap, Lea Sprunger of Switzerland is the leading entry, with British athletes Amy Allcock, Emily Diamond and Amber Anning in the mix too.
Out on the field, British vaulters Charlie Myers, Joel Benitez Leon and Harry Coppell will aim to soar higher than 2014 world junior champion Axel Chapelle. The Frenchman’s outdoor best of 5.72m was set in Monaco back in July 2017 and his 5.88m indoor vault dates back to last February. The British vaulters have bests between 5.40 and 5.60, so it’ll be a real battle to the highest heights on Saturday.
The women’s long jump looks to be a Great Britain vs Switzerland affair, with only one athlete entered from outside the two countries. There really is great British talent in the forms of Jahisha Thomas, 2018 England champion Lucy Hadaway and Rebecca Chapman.
It looks to be another GB-Swiss showdown in the women’s 800m as British indoor silver medallist, Mari Smith will toe the line with Lore Hoffman as the two fastest athletes on paper by 2/3 seconds.
You’ll be able to watch live action from Geneve from around 11am UK time here.
