Diamond League Makes Sixth Stop in Rabat, Morocco

By Adam Kopet

Kenny Bednarek will make his Diamond League debut Sunday in Rabat, Morocco, running the 200 meters. He is fresh off an exceptional season for Indian Hills Community College (Iowa) where he won the NJCAA Division 1 Outdoor Championships in the 200 and 400 meters.

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Bednarek will face seasoned competitors in Rabat. Chief among them is Turkey's Ramil Guliyev, who is the reigning IAAF World Outdoor champion in the 200 meters. Also racing is Canada's Andre De Grasse, who captured silver in the 200 meters at the 2016 Olympics.

Bednarek's 19.82 best from the NJCAA Championships ranks him fourth in the field, but only he and Guliyev have broken 20 seconds this year.

Guliyev ran 19.99 to win the 200 meters at the opening Diamond League meeting last month in Doha. However, Bednarek owns the fastest all-conditions time this year from the prelims of the NJCAA Championships when he ran 19.49 with a 6.1m/s tailwind.

Jenny Simpson is set to take on another star-studded field in the women's 1,500 meters. She finished fourth last week in Rome, running a season-best 4:01.18. Two of the women who beat her in Rome are also in the field. Genzebe Dibaba and Gudaf Tsegay, both of Ethiopia, ran the leading and third-fastest times in the world this year at 3:56.28 and 3:59.57, respectively.

Home-country favorite Rababe Arafi is in the field and owns a season's best 0.03 seconds faster than Simpson this year. Simpson owns a faster personal best, but it is still too early in the season for athletes to be in peak shape, especially as the IAAF World Outdoor Championships start in late September.

Also in the field is Sifan Hassan of The Netherlands. She owns a personal best of 3:56.05, only trailing Dibaba, who is the world record holder at 3:50.07. Hassan focused on longer distances during the spring, running a road world record for 5K in 14:44 and attempting to break the world record for the half marathon in April. Despite those efforts, the Nike Oregon Project runner has still managed to run 4:00.53 this year.

Three Americans are entered in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase. Hillary Bor has already run a personal best this year, finishing second in Doha in 8:08.41. Also in the race is Andy Bayer, who ran 8:16.52 in Rome. He followed that with an 8:18.29 win in Turku, Finland. Stanley Kebenei has the fastest personal best among the Americans at 8:08.30.

The favorite in the men's steeplechase is Morocco's Soufiane El Bakkali. The 23-year old won the 2018 Monaco race in 7:58.15. He also kicked past Bor on the home straight of the Doha Diamond League race to win in 8:07.22.

However, Benjamin Kigen of Kenya is the fastest in the world this year. He won last week in Rome in a personal-best 8:06.13.

The women's pole vault features a deep field that includes the three best Americans of all-time, considering indoor and outdoor performances. Sandi Morris, Katie Nageotte and Jenn Suhr all return to action following the competition in Rome.

Suhr will be trying to bounce back after failing to clear her opening height in Rome, which led to a death threat posted on social media.

The trio will face world and Olympic champion Katerina Stefanidi of Greece, Rome winner Angelica Bengtsson of Sweden and Speed River Inferno winner Alysha Newman of Canada. Both Bengtsson and Newman set personal bests and national records with identical clearances of 15-7.25 (4.76m) at those competitions.