USATF Grand Prix opens in Bermuda with loaded fields

DEVONSHIRE, Bermuda – Sun, sand and speed will be on full display Sunday as the USATF Bermuda Grand Prix features five reigning or past Olympic champions and two World champions at Flora Duffy Stadium. The meet is the fifth stop on the World Athletics Continental Tour - Gold, offering the world's best athletes a chance to win prize money and collect valuable rankings points.
 
The friendly climes of the mid-Atlantic island will play host to luminaries such as men's world 200m champion and American record holder Noah Lyles, who drops down in distance to the 100m to face American rival Christian Coleman, the 2019 world champion in the dash. Those two will also have to watch out for Noah's brother, Josephus, as well as sub-10 Jamaican Ackeem Blake.
 
Olympic 200m champion Andre De Grasse of Canada is favored in the half-lap, which also sees 2021 NCAA 100m champion Terrance Laird, who clocked 19.81 for 200m that year and is on the comeback trail from injury issues. Elijah Morrow has shown steady improvement this season, slicing his PB to 20.15, and Ghana's Joseph Amoah is a sub-10 100m man who has a 200m best of 20.08.
 
Bahamian Steven Gardiner raced to 400m gold at the Tokyo Games and also won the 2019 world title in a PB 43.48. He opens his 2023 campaign in the event against Trevor Stewart, who earned gold as part of the U.S. men's 4x400m relay in Tokyo and added bronze in the mixed 4x400m. Stewart has twice dipped under 45 already this season, with a best of 44.92, and has a PB of 44.25. 2019 World Championships gold medalist Wil London, who picked up hardware as part of Team USATF's winning 4x400m relay and mixed 4x400m at the World Championships in Doha, is also a threat.
 
Four men who have combined to win the past 11 USATF triple jump golds come together again, with reigning national champion Donald Scott facing two-time Olympic champion and four-time world champion Christian Taylor, along with four-time U.S. gold medalist Will Claye and two-time winner Omar Craddock. 
 
Taylor has the most hardware among the quartet, and is the American record holder, but Scott has had the hot hand of late with a sweep of the USATF indoor and outdoor crowns last year and the indoor title this year to go along with a bronze at the 2022 World Indoor Championships. Claye, the second-farthest American ever, has won nine international championship medals, including two World Indoor golds, a pair of Olympic silvers and two World Championships silvers. Craddock is a three-time World Championships team member who was fourth at the 2015 edition in Beijing.
 
Jamal Britt leads a contingent of four men who finished in the top seven in the 110m hurdles at last year's USATF Championships, and his 13.09 PB from that meet was matched by Robert Dunning in Atlanta two weeks ago. Freddie Crittenden has the fastest time overall in the field with a 13.00 set in winning the NACAC title in the Bahamas last summer. Eric Edwards zipped to a 13.15 for NCAA silver for LSU last June, while Michael Dickson sports a 13.23 career best. Former Pittsburg State star Louis Rollins was the bronze medalist in the 60H at the USATF Indoor Championships in February.
 
USATF Indoor long jump champion Will Williams was a World Championships qualifier in 2022 and faces 2017 World Championships silver medalist and Olympian Jarrion Lawson, as well as Tokyo Olympian Steffin McCarter, who took fifth at the World Championships in Eugene.
 
Former women's 400m hurdles world record holder and Olympic and world champion Dalilah Muhammad goes without barriers in the flat 400m, an event she has shown some prowess in as well, as evidenced by gold medals on Team USATF's 4x400m relays at the Tokyo Olympics and the 2019 World Championships. Sporting a 50.60 PB, Muhammad will have her hands full with Jamaica's Candice McLeod, who was fifth in the 400m at Tokyo with a PB 49.51. Running for the U.S. in the heats at Tokyo and in Eugene at the World Championships last summer, Kaylin Whitney has a pair of 4x400m golds on her resume and has run 50.29, while Courtney Okolo has won multiple relay golds and has an open best of 49.71. Another sub-50 American, Shakima Wimbley, won gold on the 2017 World Championships 4x400m and has a best of 49.52 from 2018.
 
Puerto Rico's Jasmine Camacho-Quinn won Tokyo gold in the 100m hurdles and was the bronze medalist at Eugene last summer. She is the fifth-fastest woman in history over the hurdles and has a best of 12.26. Gabbi Cunningham was seventh in that Olympic final and earned bronze in the 60m hurdles at the 2022 World Indoor Championships, and Tonea Marshall is another contender with a PB of 12.44 and a runner-up finish at this year's USATF Indoor Championships in the 60H. Tokyo bronze medalist Megan Tapper of Jamaica has a PB of 12.51 and is coming off a win in the Bahamas last week. Fellow Jamaican Danielle Williams won the world title in 2015 and added bronze in 2019, and is still a force at age 30 with a lifetime best of 12.32.
 
Reigning USATF champion Quanesha Burks and current U.S. leader Tara Davis-Woodhall will go head-to-head atop a strong women's long jump field that also includes World Championships finalist Tiffany Flynn, combined events Olympian Kendell Williams and Monae Nichols. Davis-Woodhall, sixth at Tokyo, has a career best of 7.14m23-5.25 to rank as the No. 5 all-time U.S. performer, and Burks has a wind-aided lifetime best of 7.06m/23-2. Nigerian Ruth Usoro swept the NCAA indoor and outdoor triple jump crowns for Texas Tech in 2021 and was a finalist in the long jump at last year's World Championships.
 
Last year's World Indoor Championships women's 60m silver medalist Mikiah Brisco and 
Tamari Davis, a 10.89 performer already in 2023, face past winners of the USATF Championships 100m, Javianne Oliver and English Gardner, in a sprint battle that includes multiple women who have cracked the 11-second barrier in their careers. 
 
Oliver won the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials title and has a 10.95 PB, while Gardner set her lifetime best of 10.74 to win the 2016 Trials before earning gold on the U.S. 4x100m relay in Rio. Marybeth Sant Price took bronze behind Brisco at the World Indoors and clocked 10.95 last June. International flavor comes from Germany's Gina Lückenkemper, a 2022 World Championships 4x100m bronze medalist with a 10.95 career best, and Jamaica's Remona Burchell, who earned gold running in the heats of the 4x100m at Tokyo.
 
A double relay gold medalist at the World Championships and the fifth-place finisher in the 200m, Abby Steiner is the marquee name in that event as she looks for a third-straight victory in her inaugural season as a pro. Steiner set the collegiate record of 21.80 last year to capture top honors at the NCAA Championships and helped her Kentucky team to gold in the 4x400m. She was also the USATF 200m winner in a PB 21.77 and then ran the second leg on Team USATF's winning 4x100m squad in Eugene and also had the second carry on the victorious 4x400m quartet. Tokyo Olympian Anavia Battle ran 21.95 at the 2021 Trials, and Makenzie Dunmore is fresh off a 50.35 400m PB that bodes well for a breakthrough at half the distance.
 
2019 Pan American Games silver medalist Anna Cockrell was an Olympian in the 400m hurdles in 2021 after capturing NCAA gold in both the 100H and 400H. She brings a PB of 53.70 into the meet and has won both her outings over the barriers this season. Panama's Gianna Woodruff was seventh at the World Championships and Olympics, lowering her national record to 53.69 last year, and 2015 World Championships bronze medalist Cassandra Tate had her best outing since 2017 with a 54.68 last weekend. Rio Olympics bronze medalist Ashley Spencer has the fastest PB in the field at 53.11 from 2017.
 
Enjoying her best season ever in 2022, Olivia Baker lowered her 800m PB to 1:58.05 to take third at the Monaco Diamond League meet, and she was the USATF Indoor Championships runner-up. Her top challenger is likely to be Emily Richards, who has a 2:00.20 PB.
 
USATF Bermuda Grand Prix
Sunday, May 21
Time: 2:00pm - 4:00pm ET
Live Stream Link: https://www.nbc.com/watch/olympics/usatf-bermuda-grand-prix/4501728?cid=TF
Broadcast: NBC
Digital: NBC.com/sports, NBC Sports App, Peacock 

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