American sprinter Tyson Gay has been added to the line-up of elite athletes for the Jamaica International Invitational at the National Stadium on May 9. He will replace his compatriot Justin Gatlin, who was earlier scheduled to compete in the 100m but had to withdraw due to other commitments. He will be focusing instead on the April 23-25 Penn Relays in the US and the May 2-3 IAAF World Relays in The Bahamas.
Gatlin won the 100m at the Jamaica meet in 2014, while Gay’s last appearance there was in 2013 when he won the 100m in 9.86secs.
This year, Gay is slated to compete in the 200m against Jamaica’s Nickel Ashmeade and rising stars Rasheed Dwyer and Julian Forte. Another American, Ryan Bailey, is expected to clash with Jamaica’s Asafa Powell, Commonwealth Games champion Kemar Bailey-Cole, Nesta Carter and Andrew Fisher, and Trinidad and Tobago’s Richard Thompson, the 2008 Olympic 100m silver medalist.
Meanwhile, Jamaican teenage quarter-miler Akeem Bloomfield, who broke the year-old 400m record at Champs this year, and Jamaica’s 2013 World Championships mile relay star anchor Javon Francis have been added. They will go up against two-time Olympic gold medalist LaShawn Merritt, 2012 Olympic silver medalist Luguelin Santos of the Dominican Republic, Saudi Arabia’s Youseff Al-Masrahl and Belgium’s Jonathan Borlee (both with personal bests (PB) of 44.43secs) and the African record holder, Isaac Makwala of Botswana, whose PB is 44.01.