Shericka’s First 200m

Two-time reigning World champ over 200m (and recently announced subject of the Netflix docuseries “Sprint”) Shericka Jackson will be making her much anticipated season opener at her signature distance. Jackson has been dominant in the 200m lately – she’s sitting on a winning streak of 14 finals dating back to her first race of 2022 – but is still looking for her first Olympic medal in the event. Jackson, who has Olympic medals in the 100m, 400m, 4x100m, and 4x400m, famously failed to make it out of the heats in Tokyo after letting up at the line, and will be hungry this season to right that wrong in Paris.

The field that Jackson is up against on Sunday doesn’t present a clear challenger, but raise your hand if you foresaw Torrie Lewis beating Sha’Carri Richardson last month in Richardson’s season debut (and then put your hand down because you didn’t). Maybe Danish record holder Ida Karstoft, who has put together a few solid races in Florida the past few months, could be the one to play spoiler?

The real race for Jackson may be against the current world lead of 22.03. The past two years Jackson has opened her seasons with times of 22.07 (2022) and 21.98 (2023, in Rabat). By this time last year she had already run 10.82 in the 100m however, whereas she ran just 11.03 in her only race so far of 2024.

Steeplechase Highlighted by Home Country Hero

The featured event at the past few iterations of the Rabat Diamond League has been the men’s steeplechase which consistently features Moroccan legend Soufiane El Bakkali, who has taken home gold at each of the last three global championships. El Bakkali has won three times before in Rabat – including a 7:56.68 PB last year – and will be opening his track season against a formidable field on Sunday.

The Rabat steeple has a history of being fast, as it has produced a world lead in five of the six editions of the meet since being elevated to Diamond League status in 2016 (it wasn’t held in 2020 or 2021), including sub-8:00 clockings in each of the last two years.

The top eight finisher’s from last week’s Doha steeplechase – all of whom ran under 8:20 – are on the start list in Rabat, including Samuel Firewu, Abraham Kibiwot, and Getnet Wale (2019 Rabat winner). Their top three finishes last weekend give them the three fastest times in the world this year. Both Wale and Kibiwot set personal bests behind El Bakkali in Rabat last year.

Also in the race is 2016 Olympic Champ Conselsus Kipruto of Kenya. Kipruto followed up his Olympic win with World titles in 2017 and 2019, but has yet to return to that level since. Last year in Rabat, Kipruto registered a DNF, and did so again later in the year at the Kenyan Trials for Worlds. Kipruto struggled last year with a flare up of the back injury that prevented him from defending his Olympic gold. This will be the first race of the 29-year-old’s quest for redemption in Paris.

Three-time U.S. steeple champ Hillary Bor will be kicking off his track season, and could make his path to Paris a lot clearer if he becomes the second American man (Anthony Rotich being the other) under the 8:15 Olympic standard.

Loaded Men’s Field Events

If you are a fan of discus throwing, it doesn’t get much better than this. Each of the top nine ranked men in the event will be throwing on Sunday. Between six of them, they’ve taken home 11 of the 12 medals given out at the last four global championships. To put it plainly, there are six men who have thrown over 70.5m (more than three-quarters of a football field) in the last ten years, and all of them will be in Rabat.

The headliner is new world record holder Mykolas Alekna, and all will be watching to see how far he will throw outside of “Throw Town”, Oklahoma. Alekna’s biggest competition will be each of the last two World champions in Daniel Ståhl and Kristjan Čeh, each of whom won their season openers.

There is a similar level of star power in the triple jump where you have the top three ranked jumpers in the world, as well as reigning Olympic champ Pedro Pichardo. Jumping alongside him are world leading Andy Díaz Hernández, and Hugues Fabrice Zango, who has won two World titles in the past 10 months. Of those three combined, they have only one loss in ten competitions this year, and it was Zango finishing behind Pichardo in Xiamen. Pichardo’s season opening win was a good sign after he had to miss Worlds with a back injury last year.

Díaz Hernández hasn’t competed since his indoor season ended at Italian Championships in February. He wasn’t eligible for Worlds in March (or last year’s outdoor championships in Budapest) while he is switching his allegiance from Cuba. He will be eligible to represent Italy in international competition starting August 1st – the opening day of track and field at the Paris Olympics – an opportunity a long time coming after he chose not to jump in Tokyo to avoid representing his old country.

Stars in Women’s Shot Put

The most notable American presence in Rabat will be in women’s shot put, where all three women who have made World finals for Team USA in the past two years – as well as one who has come darn close – will be competing. Chase Jackson is the headliner among them, as she hasn’t lost to another American since finishing fourth at the U.S. Championships last July (including eight straight wins against champion Maggie Ewen, who will be in Rabat). Jackson already has one Diamond League win this year, and is looking for the tenth of her career.

The rest of the field should give Jackson a challenge, led by Canadian Sarah Mitton, who is just one week removed from launching the second longest throw since 2015 (behind only Jackson’s American record at the Diamond League Final last year). Mitton also had an undefeated winter culminating in a World Indoor title.

German Yemisi Ogunleye is looking to bounce back after a disappointing start to her outdoor season in China (5th in Xiamen, 9th in Suzhou) that followed an impressive indoor season that included the first 20m throw of her career, two head-to-head wins over Jackson, and a silver medal at Worlds.