For those who’re in search of 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 report holders resembling Noah Lyles, Grant Holloway, Anna Corridor, Tara Davis-Woodhall, Tobi Amusan, and Wayde van Niekerk shall be among the many headliners within the return of the adidas Atlanta Metropolis Video games.
And for those who’re in search of an opportunity to witness a race that would go down in Georgia historical past, stroll throughout the road to the Midtown Mile proper afterward, the place Tommy Latham will try to develop into the primary Georgia highschool athlete to run a sub-4-minute mile.
Simply final week, Latham, a rising senior at Marist Faculty, broke the 25-year-old state report at 1600 meters when he gained the GHSA 6A state title in 4:01.66, the second-fastest time within the nation to date this season. He leads a Boys’ Invitational Mile subject 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 assessment: “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 monitor to his intro tune earlier than getting right 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 Faculty. Final yr, he smashed his private greatest right here in ending second to his coaching associate Holloway, a six-time World Champion and the second-fastest man in historical past, who can even be again.
“My family and friends shall be on the market supporting me,” stated Dunning, the 2015 GHSA 6A champion within the 300-meter hurdles and excessive soar who was an All-Metro choice that season. “I’m in my hometown. There’s nothing extra I can ask for. Atlanta at all times 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 nations competing on a specifically constructed elevated monitor, embrace:
- Ladies’s 100-meter hurdles: Amusan, the World Report-holder from Nigeria, shall be challenged by American Report-holder Kendra Harrison, who held the world mark till Amusan claimed it on her technique to turning into World Champion in 2022. Corridor, a two-time World Championships bronze medalist within the heptathlon, can be within the subject.
- 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.
- Ladies’s Lengthy Bounce: Fan favourite Davis-Woodhall, the reigning World Indoor Champion, brings along with her the longest soar on the planet this yr and a spicy rivalry with fellow American Quanesha Burks. Contemplate this a preview of their looming Olympic Trials matchup within the lengthy soar. As a bonus, heptathlete Corridor shall 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 Report, has slowly labored his means again after tearing his ACL in a celeb rugby match in late 2017.
Prime Georgia highschool sprinters can even get their star activate the monitor, with the Ladies’ 100 Meters and Boys’ 110-Meter Hurdles within the limelight as a part of the principle program. Within the 100, 5 of the eight quickest ladies this season, led by Somto Igwilo of Walton Excessive Faculty and Sanaa Frederick of Druid Hills Excessive Faculty, 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 sector for the highschool ladies’ pole vault couldn’t enhance, with Madison Townsend of Westminster Faculty headlining a showdown of the highest 5 ladies this season. On the boys’ facet, Jordan Frank of North Springs leads a roster that features 5 high jumpers.
After motion on the dash monitor winds up, focus will shift to the oval at Midtown Excessive Faculty, the place Latham will chase historical past within the loaded Boys’ Invitational Mile subject, and Claire Petersen of Blessed Trinity tops the sector for the Ladies’ 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 outdated on the monitor. The adidas Atlanta Metropolis Video games will kick off at 3:45 p.m. with the lads’s lengthy soar and a sequence of highschool miles, culminating within the boys’ and ladies’ invitationals, which start at Midtown Excessive Faculty at 8:30 p.m. All are free, as is the dwell stream from 4:45-7:45 EDT on the adidas YouTube page. The Boys’ Invitational Mile, that includes Latham, shall be proven on Instagram Live. Highlights can even be obtainable on the adidas Atlanta Metropolis Video games Instagram, Facebook, and X accounts.
To view a meet schedule and study extra in regards to the occasion, go to adidasAtlantaCityGames.com.
Barbara Huebner for the adidas Atlanta Metropolis Video games
