Olympic 200m champion Andre De Grasse (CAN) will take on world champion Noah Lyles (USA) and Olympic 100m silver medallist and Diamond Trophy holder Fred Kerley (USA) in a stellar men’s 200m at the Wanda Diamond League Doha on Friday 13th May.
De Grasse, the Canadian national record holder (19.62), is a multiple Olympic and world medallist. He backed up his 200m gold in Tokyo with 100m bronze and silver in the 4 x 100m relay. At the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, he finished second in the 200m and took bronze in the 100m.
“To win my first Olympic gold medal last year was really special,” said the 27-year-old. “In Rio 2016 and the Worlds in 2019 I felt I’d come up short, in spite of consistent podium performances. I work hard and I want to be the best. Winning gold in Tokyo has given me confidence that I can deliver another championship-winning performance this summer, and I’m looking forward to kicking off my season in Doha as I build towards that goal in Eugene.”
Lyles, Olympic bronze medallist over 200m, was a double gold medallist in Doha 2019 over 200m and in the 4 x 100m relay. The former world U20 100m champion ran 9.90w (100m) and 19.86 (200m) at the PURE Athletics Global Invitational in Florida on 1 May. His 200m best of 19.50 (2019) is the fifth-fastest of all time.
Kerley is a world gold medallist in the 4 x 400m and bronze medallist in the 400m (2019). He has demonstrated his incredible versatility already this season with a 19.80 200m clocking in mid-April, the second-fastest in the world this year to date. The 2021 Diamond League champion (100m) was exceptional last year, clocking personal best times in the 100m (9.84) and 200m (19.76).
Aaron Brown (CAN), Jereem Richards (TTO), Filippo Tortu (ITA) and Femi Ogunode (QAT) make up the stellar 200m field.
Brown, alongside De Grasse, was an Olympic relay silver medallist in Tokyo and finished sixth in the 200m; Richards, 2022 world indoor champion (400m), won world 4 x 400m relay gold in 2017 and finished eighth in Tokyo (200m); Tortu was a member of Italy’s Olympic gold medal-winning 4 x 100m relay team; and multiple Asian Games champion Ogunode – the Qatari national record holder (19.97) and 2014 World Indoor 60m bronze medallist – reached the 200m semi-final in Tokyo.
The 2022 Wanda Diamond League comprises 14 meetings in total, starting with Doha at the Qatar Sports Club on 13th May and concluding with a single final across two days in Zurich (7-8 September). Each meeting will be broadcast globally in a live two-hour programme.