LAUSANNE: French sprinter Christophe Lemaitre goes up against three top Jamaicans at the Diamond League meeting here Thursday with a good chance of a morale-boosting victory ahead of the world championships. Lemaitre is fresh from having set successive French 100m records in his last two outings over the 100m, the most recent clocked at 9.95 seconds in Stockholm. Newly-crowned Jamaican champion over the blue ribbon event – in the absence of world and Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt – is former world record holder Asafa Powell, who has a season's best of 9.90sec and a track record of 9.72 in Lausanne, the fifth fastest time ever. Bolt was not on the card for Lausanne while American Tyson Gay was but has pulled out because of the hip injury that saw him also withdraw from the US national champs and consequently the Aug. 27-Sept. 4 worlds in Daegu, South Korea. Powell's compatriots Nesta Carter and Michael Frater, with season's bests of 9.92 and 9.94sec respectively, and the Dutch Antilles' Churandy Martina will certainly also provide tough opposition for Lemaitre. The other main drawcard event is the men's 800m, which features Kenyan world record holder David Rudisha in his second race since returning from a foot injury which has seen him sidelined for three months. Rudisha, who returned to action with a world-leading 1:43.46 at a meet in Nancy last week, will be pushed by world champion Mbulaeni Mulaudzi of South Africa. The men's 5000m also features a high-class field with 11 entries having gone under 13 minutes in the discipline, a battle royale between strong Kenyan and Ethiopian contigents possibly producing a stadium record. Elsewhere, world record holder Dayron Robles of Cuba goes in the men's 110m hurdles, while French tyro Teddy Tamgho is in a face-off with Briton Phillips Idowu in the triple jump. – Agence France
