Sun, sand and speed will be on full display Sunday as the USATF Bermuda Grand Prix features five reigning or past Olympic champions and two World champions at Flora Duffy Stadium. The meet is the fifth stop on the World Athletics Continental Tour - Gold, offering the world's best athletes a chance to win prize money and collect valuable rankings points.
The friendly climes of the mid-Atlantic island will play host to luminaries such as men's world 200m champion and American record holder Noah Lyles, who drops down in distance to the 100m to face American rival Christian Coleman, the 2019 world champion in the dash. Those two will also have to watch out for Noah's brother, Josephus, as well as sub-10 Jamaican Ackeem Blake.
Olympic 200m champion Andre De Grasse of Canada is favored in the half-lap, which also sees 2021 NCAA 100m champion Terrance Laird, who clocked 19.81 for 200m that year and is on the comeback trail from injury issues. Elijah Morrow has shown steady improvement this season, slicing his PB to 20.15, and Ghana's Joseph Amoah is a sub-10 100m man who has a 200m best of 20.08.
Bahamian Steven Gardiner raced to 400m gold at the Tokyo Games and also won the 2019 world title in a PB 43.48. He opens his 2023 campaign in the event against Trevor Stewart, who earned gold as part of the U.S. men's 4x400m relay in Tokyo and added bronze in the mixed 4x400m. Stewart has twice dipped under 45 already this season, with a best of 44.92, and has a PB of 44.25. 2019 World Championships gold medalist Wil London, who picked up hardware as part of Team USATF's winning 4x400m relay and mixed 4x400m at the World Championships in Doha, is also a threat.
Former women's 400m hurdles world record holder and Olympic and world champion Dalilah Muhammad goes without barriers in the flat 400m, an event she has shown some prowess in as well, as evidenced by gold medals on Team USATF's 4x400m relays at the Tokyo Olympics and the 2019 World Championships. Sporting a 50.60 PB, Muhammad will have her hands full with Jamaica's Candice McLeod, who was fifth in the 400m at Tokyo with a PB 49.51. Running for the U.S. in the heats at Tokyo and in Eugene at the World Championships last summer, Kaylin Whitney has a pair of 4x400m golds on her resume and has run 50.29, while Courtney Okolo has won multiple relay golds and has an open best of 49.71. Another sub-50 American, Shakima Wimbley, won gold on the 2017 World Championships 4x400m and has a best of 49.52 from 2018.
Puerto Rico's Jasmine Camacho-Quinn won Tokyo gold in the 100m hurdles and was the bronze medalist at Eugene last summer. She is the fifth-fastest woman in history over the hurdles and has a best of 12.26. Gabbi Cunningham was seventh in that Olympic final and earned bronze in the 60m hurdles at the 2022 World Indoor Championships, and Tonea Marshall is another contender with a PB of 12.44 and a runner-up finish at this year's USATF Indoor Championships in the 60H. Tokyo bronze medalist Megan Tapper of Jamaica has a PB of 12.51 and is coming off a win in the Bahamas last week. Fellow Jamaican Danielle Williams won the world title in 2015 and added bronze in 2019, and is still a force at age 30 with a lifetime best of 12.32.
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