(Reuters) – Jamaica’s Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah and American prodigy Sha’Carri Richardson will headline the 100 metres at Saturday’s Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, organisers for the Diamond League event said on Monday.
Thompson-Herah returns to the venue where she nearly broke American Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 100m record last year, weeks after leading a Jamaican podium sweep at the Tokyo Games.
She dropped out of the Birmingham Diamond League meet over the weekend citing discomfort in training. Thompson-Herah’s management agency did not respond to a request for comment.
Richardson’s memories of Hayward Field are more complicated.
She was the United States’ brightest hope for a gold medal in Tokyo after winning the U.S. Olympic Trials in June but lost her spot at the Games after testing positive for cannabis.
Richardson, 22, returned to Eugene in August after serving a 30-day suspension, where she finished last in the 100m.
Rounding out the field on Saturday are Britain’s 200 metres world champion Dina Asher-Smith and Shericka Jackson, who won gold in the 4x100m relay alongside Thompson-Herah in Tokyo.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Ken Ferris)
