adidas Atlanta City Games adds eight champion athletes to event

With the adidas Atlanta City Games set to take place later this month, event organizers announced the addition of eight decorated international athletes to the May 18 track and field event.

Leading the list of star athletes is Wayde van Niekerk, who will compete in the men’s 200m. The South African runner has two world titles in the 400m and an Olympic gold medal at Rio 2016, where he set a 400m world record of 43.03 seconds.

Van Niekerk will, however, face stiff competition from the likes of Jamaica’s Antonio Watson (reigning world champion in the 400m), Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas (2019 world athletics champion in the 400m) and Jereem Richards of Trinidad and -Tobago (double Commonwealth Games champion). everyone will put on their running shoes for the 200m event.

Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala, hailed as the ninth fastest man in the 100m, returns to Atlanta after a successful winter campaign in which he finished fourth in the 60m final at the World Indoor Athletics Championships, paving the way for an exciting men’s 100m sprint.

Omanyala will face Britain’s Zharnel Hughes, who arrives in Atlanta after an excellent 2023 season which saw him achieve British records in the 100m and 200m, as well as taking bronze at the World Athletics Championships.

Finally, organizers announced that the women’s 100m hurdles would feature two record-breaking athletes, Tobi Amusan (Nigeria) and Kendra Harrison (America).

Amusan broke the 100m hurdles world record in 2022 with a blistering time of 12.12 seconds, while Harrison is the previous world record holder and is the second fastest 100m hurdler of all times (with a time of 12.20).

These eight renowned runners will join an all-star roster that includes other accomplished track and field athletes like Noah Lyles, Grant Holloway and Anna Hall, to name a few.

Produced by the Atlanta Track Club, the adidas Atlanta City Games will take place at Piedmont Park in Atlanta on Saturday, May 18.

The event will be streamed live for free on Adidas’ YouTube channel and Noah Lyles’ YouTube channel from 4:45 p.m. – 7:45 p.m. (EDT).