If you happen to’re searching for a preview of the Paris Olympics with a rollicking sprint of panache, look no additional than the Meadow in Piedmont Park on Saturday. That’s the place Olympic gold medalists, World Champions, and World and American document holders equivalent to Noah Lyles, Grant Holloway, Anna Corridor, Tara Davis-Woodhall, Tobi Amusan, and Wayde van Niekerk will likely be among the many headliners within the return of the adidas Atlanta Metropolis Video games.
And when you’re searching for an opportunity to witness a race that might go down in Georgia historical past, stroll throughout the road to the Midtown Mile proper afterward, the place Tommy Latham will try and change into the primary Georgia highschool athlete to run a sub-4-minute mile.
Simply final week, Latham, a rising senior at Marist College, broke the 25-year-old state document at 1600 meters when he received the GHSA 6A state title in 4:01.66, the second-fastest time within the nation up to now this season. He leads a Boys’ Invitational Mile area that options 10 of the 12 quickest Georgia highschool athletes this season.
After the inaugural adidas Atlanta Metropolis Video games final spring, Lyles provided this evaluation: “I’d say it’s fairly hype.”
It was excessive reward from the bubbling sprinter, a six-time World Champion at 100 meters, 200 meters, and the 4×100-meter relay. He bounded up the observe to his intro music earlier than getting all the way down to the enterprise of successful the 150 meters. He’ll defend this title on Saturday as he faces Nice Britain’s Zharnel Hughes, a two-time World Championships bronze medalist.
Additionally returning is Robert Dunning, to whom the Georgia highschool athletes can search for home-grown inspiration. Dunning, the 2021 NCAA Champion and 2024 Olympic hopeful who now runs professionally for adidas, competed for Kennesaw Mountain Excessive College. Final yr, he smashed his private greatest right here in ending second to his coaching companion Holloway, a six-time World Champion and the second-fastest man in historical past, who can even be again.
“My family and friends will likely be on the market supporting me,” mentioned Dunning, the 2015 GHSA 6A champion within the 300-meter hurdles and excessive bounce who was an All-Metro choice that season. “I’m in my hometown. There’s nothing extra I can ask for. Atlanta all the time exhibits like to me after I run there.” Along with Holloway and Dunning, marquee athletes and matchups within the Metropolis Video games, which is able to characteristic athletes from 15 international locations competing on a specifically constructed elevated observe, embrace:
Girls’s 100-meter hurdles: Amusan, the World File-holder from Nigeria, will likely be challenged by American File-holder Kendra Harrison, who held the world mark till Amusan claimed it on her option to changing into World Champion in 2022. Corridor, a two-time World Championships bronze medalist within the heptathlon, can be within the area.Males’s 100 meters: American Trey Cunningham, the 2022 World Champs silver medalist within the 110-meter hurdles, will face Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala, the 2022 Commonwealth Video games gold medalist who drew dozens of flag-waving followers when he competed right here final yr.Girls’s Lengthy Leap: Fan favourite Davis-Woodhall, the reigning World Indoor Champion, brings along with her the longest bounce on the planet this yr and a spicy rivalry with fellow American Quanesha Burks. Take into account this a preview of their looming Olympic Trials matchup within the lengthy bounce. As a bonus, heptathlete Corridor will likely be contesting this occasion, too.Males’s 200 meters: The final two Olympic gold medalists at 400 meters – van Niekerk of South Africa (2016) and Steve Gardiner of the Bahamas (2020) – step down within the distance, joined by 2017 World Champion (4x400m relay) Jareem Richards of Trinidad and Tobago. Van Niekerk, who nonetheless holds the 400-meter World File, has slowly labored his method again after tearing his ACL in a star rugby match in late 2017.
High Georgia highschool sprinters can even get their star activate the observe, with the Women’ 100 Meters and Boys’ 110-Meter Hurdles within the limelight as a part of the primary program. Within the 100, 5 of the eight quickest women this season, led by Somto Igwilo of Walton Excessive College and Sanaa Frederick of Druid Hills Excessive College, will line up. Within the hurdles, top-ranked Dominiq Northington of Woodland fronts a lineup that options 5 of the seven quickest boys in 2024.
The sphere for the highschool women’ pole vault couldn’t enhance, with Madison Townsend of Westminster College headlining a showdown of the highest 5 women this season. On the boys’ aspect, Jordan Frank of North Springs leads a roster that features 5 prime jumpers.
After motion on the dash observe winds up, focus will shift to the oval at Midtown Excessive College, the place Latham will chase historical past within the loaded Boys’ Invitational Mile area, and Claire Petersen of Blessed Trinity tops the sphere for the Women’ Invitational Mile.
The day’s competitors will start at 1 p.m. with the adidas Atlanta Metropolis Video games – Youth, with the highschool pole vaults and girls and boys as younger as 9 years previous on the observe. The adidas Atlanta Metropolis Video games will kick off at 3:45 p.m. with the lads’s lengthy bounce and a sequence of highschool miles, culminating within the boys’ and women’ invitationals, which start at Midtown Excessive College at 8:30 p.m. All are free, as is the reside stream from 4:45-7:45 EDT on the adidas YouTube web page. The Boys’ Invitational Mile, that includes Latham, will likely be proven on Instagram Stay. Highlights can even be obtainable on the adidas Atlanta Metropolis Video games Instagram, Fb, and X accounts.
To view a meet schedule and study extra concerning the occasion, go to adidasAtlantaCityGames.com.
Barbara Huebner for the adidas Atlanta Metropolis Video games
