Brume to open Diamond League campaign in Suzhou, China; Amusan in another blockburster 100m hurdles race
Ese Brume will open her 2024 Diamond League campaign when the train of athletics’ premier one-day series makes its second of a scheduled 14 stops in Suzhou, China.
After the season launch in Xiamen on April 20th, Suzhou is the second of two Chinese meetings which kick off this year’s Wanda Diamond League campaign.
Brume finished second on countback last year in the final Diamond League meeting in Eugene, Oregon, USA after jumping 6.85m, same as Ivana Vuleta, the reigning world outdoor champion.
The Nigerian, 28, will be keen to go a step further and make history as the first Nigerian field eventer to win a Diamond League discipline title and knows she needs to start well in Suzhou to accumulate the points that will secure her place in
the final at the Memorial van Damme in Brussels, Belgium.
Brume will compete for the maximum points and the $10,000 top oprize money with three other women who have at least hit the 7m mark viz Serbia’s Ivana Spanovic (7.14m), Brooke Buschkuehl of Australia (7.13m) and American, Tara Davis-Woodhall
(7.14).
The World indoor, outdoor and Olympic medalist will also have fellow African, Koala Marthe of Burkina Faso to contend with albeit the Nigerian triumphed when both clashed at the African Games last month in Accra, Ghana.
Brume leads the Burkinable 8-2 in head to head clashes and the Nigerian will hope to make it 9-2 as she set her eyes on turning her bronze medal to gold at the Paris Olympics this summer.
Also in action in Suzhou will be Tobi Amusan who will be staying behind in China after competing in the Diamond League season opener in Xiamen seven days earlier.
Interestingly, the 100m hurdles event in Suzhou will be a near repeat of what is expected seven days earlier in Xiamen as Amusan will battle reigning Olympic champion, Jasmine Camacho-Quinne, reigning World champion, Danielle Willaims, reigning World indoor champion and world record holder, Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas, Olympic bronze medal winner, Megan Tapper of Jamaica and home girl, Wu Yanni.
