Two of the U.S.’ deepest events in track over the last several years have been the men’s 200m and women’s 100m hurdles. Friday’s Diamond League meet in Doha is headlined by Americans looking to break through in those events and make their first Olympic team this summer.
Peacock airs live coverage on Friday at noon ET. Highlights air Saturday at 1 p.m. ET on CNBC, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app for CNBC subscribers.
Doha, the third Diamond League meet of the season, features the world’s fastest man so far this year in the 200m — American Courtney Lindsey — and the world’s fastest woman so far this year in the 100m hurdles — American Tonea Marshall.
Lindsey, 25, is the reigning NCAA 100m champion and took third in the 200m at the 2023 USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships to make his first world championships team. He missed the 200m final at last August’s worlds by one hundredth of a second.
This year, Lindsey has already beaten world bronze medalist Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, clocking 19.71 seconds in Kenya on April 20. Only three-time world champion Noah Lyles and Tebogo ran faster than 19.71 over all of 2023. Lyles has yet to race a 200m this season.
Marshall, also 25, ran a personal-best 12.42 seconds in the 100m hurdles in Clermont, Florida, on April 20, a time that remains best in the world in 2024. Marshall was sixth at the 2023 USATF Outdoor Championships.
Lindsey and Marshall may need to be faster at the Olympic Trials from June 21-30 in Eugene, Oregon, where the top three in their events make the team for Paris.
In the men’s 200m, Lyles (personal best 19.31), Erriyon Knighton (personal best 19.49) and Kenny Bednarek (personal best 19.68) have been the top three Americans over the last three years.
In the 100m hurdles, six of the world’s eight fastest women last year were Americans, and all of them ran faster than 12.42.
Here are the Doha entry lists. Here are five events to watch:
Men’s Long Jump – 11:23 a.m. ET
Greek Miltiadis Tentoglou, the reigning Olympic and world champion, faces a field that includes the last two world bronze medalists (Jamaican Tajay Gayle and Swiss Simon Ehammer). Plus William Williams, the top American at last year’s worlds in eighth place.
Men’s 200m — 12:23 p.m. ET
Lindsey can significantly boost his chances to make the Olympic team in this race. That’s because the field includes Bednarek, the silver medalist at the Tokyo Olympics and 2022 Worlds. Both Lindsey and Bednarek are coming off competing at the World Athletics Relays in the Bahamas last weekend.
Women’s 1500m — 12:34 p.m. ET
The headliner is 18-year-old Birke Haylom of Ethiopia. Over the last year, she broke the world U20 records in the outdoor mile and indoor 1500m, the world U18 record in the 5000m and the African U20 record in the outdoor 1500m twice. The world U20 record in the outdoor 1500m, which Haylom could target in Doha, is 3:51.34. If Haylom makes the Olympic team, she can bid to become the youngest woman to win an Olympic medal in the 1500m or 5000m, according to the OlyMADMen.
Men’s Javelin — 12:42 p.m ET
Arguably the best field of the meet with reigning Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra of India, 2022 World champion Anderson Peters of Grenada and Czech Jakub Vadlejch, a global championship medalist each of the last three years. The world’s best throw since the start of 2023 was posted in February by 19-year-old German Max Dehning — 90.20 meters.
Women’s 100m Hurdles — 1:18 p.m. ET
Marshall faces a field that includes 2022 U.S. silver medalist Alaysha Johnson. As they race, keep in mind that come Olympic Trials, the field will likely also include Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Keni Harrison and 2019 World champion Nia Ali, plus three women born in 2000 who ran 12.40 or faster last year — Masai Russell, Tia Jones and Alia Armstrong.
