Rare opportunity for Yupun at today’s Diamond League meet in Zurich  

National record holder Yupun Abeykoon will get a rare opportunity to compete against a world class field including Olympic medalists Fred Kerley and Andre De Grasse in the men’s 100 metres of the Diamond League in Zurich today.

Abeykoon who represented Sri Lanka at the Tokyo Olympics became the first Sri Lankan to compete at a Diamond League when he took part in the Rome edition of the event in June. His fourth place finish there helped the Italy based sprinter to improve his world rankings and earn a ticket to the Olympics.

Competing against a solid field Abeykoon clocked 10.16 seconds to finish ahead of American veteran Mike Rodgers and Ivorian Arthur Cissé in Rome.

Today he will be up against a field that includes at least four who ran in the Tokyo Olympics 100 metres finals and world leader Bromell Trayvon.

Canada’s Andre De Grasse has three sets of global 100m and 200m medals against his name and in Zurich he looks set to take on the challenge once more as he is entered for both sprint finals. After claiming Olympic 100m bronze in Tokyo, the 10-time global medallist returned to win the 200m, gaining his first Olympic gold, with 4x100m bronze rounding out his campaign.

USA’s Fred Kerley is fresh from making history by becoming the first man to win 100m, 200m and 400m races in the Diamond League. The Olympic 100m silver medallist is among the top contenders. In Brussels he clocked 9.94 to hold off his compatriot and the world leader with 9.77, Trayvon Bromell.

The quality field also features South Africa’s Akani Simbine and the USA’s Ronnie Baker, who finished fourth and fifth respectively in the Olympic 100m final.