Asafa Powell among top athletes coming to Bermuda
Some of the world’s top athletes will descend on Bermuda for the USATF Bermuda Grand Prix at Flora Duffy Stadium on Sunday.
In a video produced by the Bermuda Tourism Authority on social media, a string of top-class athletes revealed they would be competing on the island this weekend.
Chief among them is Jamaican Asafa Powell. Twice holder of the 100 metres world record, he has won gold medals in the relay at both the Olympics and World Championships. Now aged 40, he announced his retirement from the sport last year but is expected to participate on Sunday.
Noah Lyles, 200 metres world champion, is a regular visitor to Bermuda and has expressed his delight at returning for the event.
“I am coming to Bermuda May 21st for the Bermuda Grand Prix, he said.
“ You are not going to want to miss this one. We are bringing in fast people, fast track, party atmosphere and hey, I am gonna be there, so you know its gonna be exciting,”
Lyles won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics and has twice won individual gold in the 200 metres at the World Championships. His personal best of 19.31sec is the fastest ever run by an American, beating Michael Johnson’s best of 19.32, which was set at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
Canadian sprinter Andre de Grasse is the eighth fastest man ever over 200 metres and has won six Olympic medals, including gold in Tokyo. He is the first Canadian sprinter to win three medals in a single Olympics, bettering the two medals won by Donovan Bailey and Percy Williams.
Perhaps the most successful athlete on show will be American triple jumper Christian Taylor, who will also be flying out to the island this week.
Winner of two Olympic gold medals, at London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016, he is also a four-times world champion with his last victory coming in 2019 in Doha.
In the same year, Taylor announced the formation of the Athletics Association, an organisation of professional track and field athletes around the world, independent of International Amateur Athletics Federation, with the aim of advocating for athlete rights.
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