Stars of the meet

The superstars of Dutch athletics are set to shine at the FBK Games in Hengelo this weekend, with reigning Olympic champion Sifan Hassan highlighting the women’s 10,000m on Saturday evening and world 400m hurdles champion Femke Bol set to light up the track over 400m during the main programme on Sunday (7).

They are among a horde of global champions who will compete at the World Athletics Continental Tour gold meeting, including reigning Olympic champions Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Gong Lijiao and Andre De Grasse; reigning world shot put champion Chase Jackson; and reigning world indoor high jump champion Hamish Kerr.

Hassan will chase a fast time over 10,000m on Saturday night in her first outing over the distance since the world final in Budapest last year. The 31-year-old had a busy weekend here last year, clocking 29:37.80 for 10,000m and 3:58.12 for 1500m. She has been honing her form on the track in recent months ahead following a fourth-place finish at the Tokyo Marathon in March.

Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson is the star name in the women’s 800m, the Olympic and world silver medallist holding the world lead at 1:55.78 and recently winning gold at the European Championships in Rome. She will face 2019 world champion Halimah Nakaayi of Uganda and Prudence Sekgodiso of South Africa, who have both run 1:57 this season.

Bol could prove unstoppable in the women’s 400m, where she will face fellow Dutch athletes Lisanne De Witte and Cathelijn Peeters, along with Ireland’s Sharlene Mawdsley, Austria’s Susanna Gogl-Walli and Chile’s Martina Weil. It’s Bol’s first time this outdoor season Bol racing 400m, a distance at which she won world indoor gold in Glasgow earlier this year in a world indoor record of 49.17.

The women’s 100m hurdles will feature a riveting showdown between some of the fastest women in history: world champion Nia Ali and reigning Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico. Ali clocked 12.37 in the final of the US Olympic Trials last weekend. Dutch star Nadine Visser, a two-time European indoor champion, is also in the field, with Poland’s Pia Skrzyszowska, who won bronze at the Europeans in Rome 12.42.

The women’s 100m features three women who have run below 11 seconds: USA’s Celera Barnes, Germany’s Gina Luckenkemper and Ecuador’s Angela Gabriela Tenorio, with Britain’s Amy Hunt also sure to feature. In the men’s 100m, Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala will take on Canada’s Andre De Grasse, the reigning Olympic 200m champion, along with USA’s Ronnie Baker and Britain’s Reece Prescod. Omanyala is the quickest this year with the 9.79 he ran at altitude in Nairobi last month.

Rising star Niels Laros will sharpen his speed in the men’s 1000m, the 19-year-old Dutch athlete taking on a strong field that includes Australian teenager Cameron Myers and Ireland’s Andrew Coscoran.

The women’s shot put will see Dutch star Jessica Schilder pit her talent against reigning world champion Chase Jackson of USA and reigning Olympic champion Gong Lijiao of China. Also in the field are USA’s Maggie Ewen and Jamaica’s Danniel Thomas-Dodd.

Aikaterini Stefanidi is the headline name in the women’s pole vault, the 2016 Olympic champion coming off a superb silver medal at the recent European Championships in Rome where she cleared 4.73m. Italian athletes Roberta Bruni and Elisa Molinarolo are also sure to feature along with USA’s Emily Grove.

In the men’s 400m, Dutch favourite Liemarvin Bonevacia is one of four men who’ve run below 45 seconds this year. The others are Zakithi Nene of South Africa, Samuel Ogazi of Nigeria and Matheus Lima of Brazil.

Hamish Kerr of New Zealand will start favourite for the men’s high jump, having cleared 2.36m to win gold in Glasgow back in March. He has an outdoor season’s best of 2.31m. Also in the field are Cuba’s Luis Enrique Zayas, who has cleared 2.33m at his best, and Australia’s Joel Baden, who has a best of 2.33m.

Hugues Fabrice Zango is the star attraction in the men’s triple jump, one of six men in the field to have surpassed 17 metres this year. The others are Yasser Mohammed of Algeria, Max Hess of Germany, Jean-Marc Pontvianne of France, Abdulla Narangolintevida of India and Ethan Olivier of New Zealand.

All eyes will be on Lithuania’s Mykolas Alekna in the men’s discus to see if the world record holder can again soar beyond the 70-metre mark. He will face a strong field that includes Australia’s Matthew Denny and Austria’s Lukas Weisshaidinger, who have both thrown over 69 metres this season.