Key Takeaways:

– Last week, we wrote about Georgia Hunter-Bell, Hobbs Kessler, Josh Hoey, Nia Akins and Isabella Whittaker’s additions to the fields.

– One addition to the men’s short distance group announced today is Elliot Giles, who will open up his outdoor season in Philly. He’s 1–6 in his career against Josh Kerr in the 800m and 1500m. The other addition is European Indoor champion Samuel Chapple of the Netherlands. This will be the biggest regular season meet that he’s ever competed in—the 26-year-old has never competed at the Diamond League and his first time racing outside Europe was the World Indoor Championships, where he took fourth in 1:45.55.

– Most of the short hurdles challengers were previously announced and we wrote about them here. Jamal Britt now rounds out the men’s field, and Tia Jones returns after successful outings in Miami and Kingston, but she’s still looking for a Slam win by improving on that 100m. Christina Clemons and Tonea Marshall are strong replacements for absent racers Cyrena Samba-Mayela and Jasmine Camacho-Quinn with the immense depth of US 100m hurdling on show here.

– Without Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who is competing in the short hurdles category in Philly, the women’s long hurdles group gets much more interesting. In Kingston, Dalilah Muhammad finished second in the group standings with 14 points (3rd in the 400m hurdles in 52.21; 2nd in the 400m 54.59). Andrenette Knight was second in the Miami standings (54.08 in the 400m hurdles; 51.80 in the 400m) and third in Kingston. We’ll finally get the Grand Slam debut of Jasmine Jones, who will be opening up her outdoor season. Lina Nielsen is likely to be the fastest 400m runner of the group based on her recent form so will be a threat to pick up significant points and prize money.

– The men’s long hurdles group becomes a preview of those likely to be fighting it out for the remaining two spots at USAs behind Rai Benjamin, with Trevor Bassitt, CJ Allen, and Chris Robinson taking on Racer Caleb Dean.

– In the short sprints Christian Coleman continues his quest to run himself into form and it will be interesting to see how he matches up against training partner Kenny Bednarek. Meanwhile, Christian Miller will be looking to continue his foray into the pro ranks, and see if he can improve on his 20.51 200m PB. On the women’s side, Dina Asher-Smith runs her first 100m of the season and this will be the first test of the impact of all the over-distance work she has been doing under Coach Flo after contesting the long sprints in Kingston. Oregon star Jadyn Mays will make her professional debut.

– In the women’s long sprints it is hard to see anyone challenging Marileidy Paulino and Salwa Eid-Naser, but Laviai Nielsen is looking to rediscover her 2024 form after an injury layoff, whilst training partner and relay anchor queen Sharlene Mawdsley is looking to improve her individual times to match what she consistently delivers with a baton in hand. Jessika Gbai is an interesting addition as a 200m specialist who’ll be looking to take prize money off the Racers by placing high in that event.

– Alexander Ogando will look to build on his strong showing for third in Miami as both he and Matthew Boling are true double threats in the men’s long sprints, whilst Khaleb Mcrae gets his chance after a consistent 400m season so far and Jevaughn Powell has a bit of a point to prove after just missing out on the Olympic 400m final.

– With the long distance group being cut down to just the 3000m, expect that one race much quicker. One of the issues with the group in Kingston and Miami—at least on the men’s side—was that the top athletes would jog for a majority of the race before making a sit-and-kick race in the final 800 or 400m. On the women’s side, Agnes Ngetich would take the lead and aggressively press from the front, which would almost instantly gap at least half the field. Not having the athletes double may make both 3000m races closer contests. Ejgayehu Taye returns after sweeping both races in Kingston, and Medina Eisa got the call back after a runner-up finish in both the 3000m and 5000m in Miami and a third place overall finish in the standings. Josette Andrews could also be a factor since it’s solely a 3000m and she’s already run 4:01.76 for the 1500m this year. Andrew Coscoran actually won the 3000m in Miami over Grant Fisher.

We’ll have a full event-by-event preview in The CITIUS MAG Newsletter next week. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox for free.

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