Reigning World champions, US teammates and fellow IAAF Diamond League Ambassadors Sanya Richards-Ross and Allyson Felix will go head-to-head in the 400m at Crystal Palace for the Aviva London Grand Prix on 13 and 14 August 2010.
The American pair have only competed against each other over the one-lap race on five occasions, the first of which came in London in 2007, when Richards-Ross took the win ahead of Felix, who ran a personal best.
Both athletes are World champions over their respective specialist distances, Richards-Ross, the 400m and Felix the 200m. Although they have only lined up against each other a handful of times prior to the IAAF Diamond League, they have regularly joined forces as half of the formidable US 4x400m team who are the reigning World and Olympic champions.
Richards-Ross said: “I’m really looking forward to competing at the Aviva London Grand Prix – I have competed there before and it will be a fantastic experience to go back to such an awesome city, and I know we'll be greeted by a great crowd.”
“The Diamond League is a really exciting prospect, I find that when elite athletes compete against each other, we push ourselves to run faster and get better results. The Diamond League will allow me to pit myself against these athletes and really strive to find faster times.”
Felix said: “I have competed at the Aviva London Grand Prix previously and loved the experience of competing in London. The crowd was fantastic, it's great to compete in front of a crowd that truly appreciates athletics – to add to that I lined up against a fantastic field of athletes which always pushes me harder and helps me run faster.
“The fact that the Aviva London Grand Prix is now part of the Diamond League makes me more excited, I will be lining up against the best in the world, some of whom I don’t get the chance to compete against much. It gives me a great platform to run as hard and as fast as I can and put up a real strong fight against my competitors.”
Click here for the full story on the IAAF website -
http://www.iaaf.org/news/kind=101/newsid=56643.html
2010 IAAF Diamond League Calendar
Doha (QAT) – Fri 14 May
Shanghai (CHN) – Sun 23 May
Oslo (NOR) – Fri 4 June
Rome (ITA) – Thu 10 June
New York (USA) – Sat 12 June
Eugene (USA) – Sat 3 July
Lausanne (SUI) – Thu 8 July
Gateshead (GBR) – Sat 10 July
Paris (FRA) – Fri 16 July
Monaco (MON) – Thu 22 July
Stockholm (SWE) – Fri 6 Aug
London (GBR) – Fri 13 and Sat 14 Aug
Zürich (SUI) – Thu 19 Aug
Brussels (BEL) – Fri 27 Aug
