Dibaba joins New York cast, high powered match-ups announced - IAAF World Athletics Tour

New York, USA - Double Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba and twice Olympic 200m champion Veronica Campbell-Brown will headline just two of several high powered match-ups at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York City on 30 May, organisers announced.

The Reebok Grand Prix is the first of two IAAF World Athletics Tour meetings this season in the U.S.A.

Dibaba vs. Smith in the 5000m

Dibaba, who is also a nine-time world champion Tirunesh Dibaba will make her 2009 debut in the 5000m, an event in which she has already set three world records. The Ethiopian will be challenged by, among others, Kim Smith from New Zealand. Smith was a four-time NCAA Champion at Providence and is the national record holder at 5000 and 10,000m. Also added to the field is Werknesh Kidane of Ethiopia, the 2003 World Cross Country champion and 10,000m silver medallist at the 2003 World Championships; and Genzebe Dibaba, Tirunesh’s younger sister. The younger Dibaba won the 2009 World Junior Cross Country Championships and just two weeks ago won her first Ethiopian national title at 5000m.

Campbell-Brown vs Williams in the 100m

The women’s 100m dash will feature a world class field including defending champion Campbell-Brown of Jamaica and American 2004 Olympic silver medallist Lauryn Williams. Campbell-Brown and Williams have gone head-to-head multiple times in recent years and have a history of performing well in major competitions. The two-time Olympic gold medallist at 200m, Campbell-Brown defeated Williams in a photo finish at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka in the 100m. Two years earlier, at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, Williams won the gold at 100m with Campbell-Brown finishing a close second. The results of the Women’s 100m at this year’s Reebok Grand Prix could serve as a preview for the IAAF World Championships set for Berlin later this summer.

Gebremariam, Lagat, Soi and Kogo aiming for a sub-13 in the 5000m

The superb field for the men’s 5000m is headlined by defending 1500 and 5000m World champion Bernard Lagat of the United States. Reigning World Cross Country champion Gebre-egziabher Gebremariam of Ethiopia, 2008 Olympic 5000m bronze medal-winner Edwin Soi of Kenya and 2008 Olympic 10,000m bronze medalist Micah Kogo, also of Kenya, will take on Lagat in a race that will threaten to break the 13 minute barrier for the first time ever on U.S. soil. In 1996, Bob Kennedy was the first American athlete to run inside 13 minutes for 5000m, and his American Record still stands at 12:58.21.

USA vs Jamaica in the women's 400m

America’s best will face Jamaica’s best in the women’s 400m. The American duo of Allyson Felix and Sanya Richards will take on Jamaicans Novlene Williams-Mills and Shericka Williams. Felix, America’s reigning World Champion and two-time Olympic silver medallist at 200m, ran the world-leading time at 400 meters several weeks ago in Doha. Richards has been dominant at this distance with the fastest time in the world in three of the last four years. Shericka Williams won the silver medal at 400m at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing just ahead of Richards. Williams-Mills is a two-time Olympic 4x400m Relay bronze medallist and was the 2007 World Championships 400m bronze medallist. At themoment, Williams-Mills has the second fastest 400 meter time of 2009, right behind Felix.

Fraser in the 200m

One of Jamaica’s sprint divas from the 2008 Olympics, Shelly-Ann Fraser, will take center stage in the women’s 200m. Fraser won gold at 100m in Beijing with a personal best time of 10.78. Among her challengers will be up and coming Americans Shalonda Solomon and Bianca Knight. Solomon set an indoor American record at 300m in February and Knight won the NCAA Indoor Championships at 200 meters in 2008.

Payne, Trammell, Wignall and Doucouré in the high hurdles

Two-time Olympic silver medallist Terrence Trammell, Jamaican Olympic finalist Maurice Wignall and 2005 World champion Ladji Doucouré of France will square off against 2008 Olympic silver medallist David Payne in the men’s 110m Hurdles. Doucouré, who finished fourth behind Payne in Beijing, won the gold medal at the European Indoor Championships in the 60m Hurdles last March. Trammell, the 2007 World Championships silver medallist, is coming off an indoor season that saw him run the fourth fastest time in history over the 60m hurdles. Wignall, the Jamaican record holder, is the reigning Commonwealth Champion in the high hurdles.

The Reebok Grand Prix, which will in 2010 join the IAAF Diamond League, is held at the state-of-the-art Icahn Stadium on New York's Randall's Island and is the fourth stop of the 2009 USA Track & Field’s Visa Championship Series.