Africa’s 100m record holder and the continent’s current reigning champion Ferdinand Omanyala will come up against stellar opposition at the Rabat Diamond League slated to take place on 28 May in Morocco.The Kenyan sprinting sensation has been included in a blockbuster field containing World champion Fred Kerley and Olympic champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs in a race that has eight athletes with sub-10 personal bests out of the nine confirmed participants.🥶#RabatDL pic.twitter.com/MKqC6c14MU— Ochieng’ Stephen (@soo_ochieng) May 10, 2023 The trio of Omanyala, Jacobs and Kerley was to face-off for the first time last year during the third edition of the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi but Jacobs was forced to pull out of the event in the 11th hour due to illness with Omanyala going on to beat Kerley.Kerley and Jacobs, who have not faced each other since the Olympic final in Tokyo in 2021, had already confirmed they would meet at the third Wanda Diamond League meeting of the season in Florence on 2 June.But now their long-awaited reunion has been moved forward a week, with the two men set to go at each other at the second leg of the season in Rabat later this month.World champion @fkerley99 ✅Olympic champion @crazylongjumper ✅#DiamondLeague champion @TrayvonBromell ✅And let’s not forget rising star and World U20 champion @LetsileTebogo2 🤩#RabatDL 🇲🇦 @MeetingIM6— Wanda Diamond League (@Diamond_League) May 10, 2023 Kerley has been talking up his chances of beating Jacobs in recent weeks. “If it happens, I will be there and I will definitely win. I do not know if he will show up,” he said at the press conference ahead of the Wanda Diamond League season opener in Doha last week.The American got his Diamond League campaign off to a winning start in the 200m in the Qatari capital, while Jacobs has not appeared on the circuit since his third-place finish in Monaco in 2021, just before his Olympic triumph.The two champions will however have their work cut out against a stellar field in Rabat.##NAJAVA_MECA_7244763##Reigning Wanda Diamond League champion Trayvon Bromell will also be hoping to launch his title defence with a win, while Canada’s Andre De Grasse will be out to claim his 12th victory in the Diamond League.Other big names in the Moroccan capital include South Africa’s Akani Simbine, the former African record holder, Jamaica’s Yohan Blake and local star Chakir Machmour.Fast rising teenage sensation Letsile Tebogo, the World U20 champion from Botswana, will also be seeking to upset the apple cart after being confirmed for the event.Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce under no pressure in season opener at Kip Keino Classic
