Sha’Carri Richardson is among the reigning world track and field champions entered in the first Diamond League meet of the Olympic season in Xiamen, China, on Saturday, airing live on Peacock from 7-9 a.m. ET.
Highlights air Saturday from 1-3 p.m. ET on CNBC, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app for CNBC subscribers.
The meet features compelling fields in the men’s 100m (2019 World champion Christian Coleman, 2022 World champion Fred Kerley), women’s 100m hurdles (Olympic gold medalist Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, 2022 World champion Tobi Amusan, 2023 World champion Danielle Williams), women’s discus (Olympic gold medalist Valarie Allman, 2023 World champion Laulauga Tausaga-Collins) and men’s pole vault (Olympic gold medalist Mondo Duplantis, Olympic silver medalist Chris Nilsen, two-time world champion Sam Kendricks).
Richardson, the reigning world 100m champion, is entered in the 200m, which would be her first individual race at any distance since last season’s Diamond League Final on Sept. 16.
XIAMEN DIAMOND LEAGUE: Start Lists
It’s the beginning of a season where Richardson can make her first Olympic team (at June’s trials in Eugene, Oregon) and bid to become the first American woman to win the Olympic 100m title since Gail Devers in 1992 and 1996 (at the Paris Games in August).
Last August, Richardson became the first American woman to win the world 100m title since the late Tori Bowie in 2017. In the final, the biggest international race of her career, she clocked a personal-best 10.65 seconds, the fastest time in world championships history.
Should they all qualify for the Olympics, Richardson’s top challengers will likely be Jamaicans — world 200m champion Shericka Jackson, plus Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson-Herah, who combined to win the last four Olympic 100m golds.
In Xiamen, Richardson races the 200m against a field that includes countrywoman TeeTee Terry and Tamara Clark, sprinters who each made the world championships team in 2022 and 2023. Richardson took 200m bronze at worlds behind Jackson and American Gabby Thomas.
Here are five events to watch on Saturday:
Women’s 100m hurdles — 7:17 a.m. ET
The most loaded sprint field of the meet with the reigning Olympic gold medalist Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico, reigning world champion Williams of Jamaica and world record holder Amusan of Nigeria. Plus Bahamian Devynne Charlton, who was fourth at worlds, then broke the indoor 60m hurdles world record in February and March. Winner here could be the early favorite for Paris.
Women’s Discus — 7:20 a.m. ET
Field includes every medalist from both the 2023 Worlds and the Tokyo Olympics. Tausaga-Collins looks this season to back up her breakthrough 2023, when she made the world team on her final throw at USATF Outdoors, then won the world title as the ninth seed in the final. Allman had the world’s top six throws in this Olympic cycle until Saturday, when Olympic bronze medalist Yaime Pérez of Cuba launched a 73.09-meter throw, the world’s farthest since July 1989.
Women’s 200m — 7:47 a.m. ET
Richardson was the world’s fourth-fastest 200m sprinter overall last year (breaking 22 seconds for the first time) and the fastest out of this Xiamen field. Given Richardson, Clark and Terry all made the 2023 USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships final in the 200m, the top American here likely boosts her chances of being a favorite to make the three-woman Olympic team at trials. This is Richardson’s first Diamond League 200m since September 2021.
Men’s 110m hurdles — 8:27 a.m. ET
Olympic gold medalist Hansle Parchment of Jamaica headlines this field, but it is also a partial U.S. Olympic Trials preview. Three-time world champion Grant Holloway isn’t entered, but the top four men from 2023 USATF Outdoors are: Daniel Roberts, Cordell Tinch, Freddie Crittenden and Eric Edwards. Holloway scratched the 2023 USATF Outdoors final since he had a bye into worlds as defending champion.
Men’s 100m — 8:53 a.m. ET
Coleman and Kerley, the headliners here, are absolutely contenders to win the Olympic 100m if they’re in form this season. Coleman twice ran 9.83 last September, including in Xiamen, which matched the world’s fastest time of 2023. Kerley ran 9.76 en route to the 2022 World title, which remains the world’s fastest time over the last two years. Up to five men who own a world championships 100m medal could be vying for the three Olympic team spots in the individual 100m come June’s trials.
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