In the event you’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 comparable 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 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 turn 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 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 subject that options 10 of the 12 quickest Georgia highschool athletes this season.
After the inaugural adidas Atlanta Metropolis Video games final spring, Lyles supplied 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 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 finest right here in ending second to his coaching accomplice Holloway, a six-time World Champion and the second-fastest man in historical past, who will 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 at all times reveals like to me once I run there.” Along with Holloway and Dunning, marquee athletes and matchups within the Metropolis Video games, which can characteristic athletes from 15 international locations competing on a specifically constructed elevated observe, embody:
- Girls’s 100-meter hurdles: Amusan, the World Document-holder from Nigeria, will likely be challenged by American Document-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.
- Girls’s Lengthy Soar: Fan favourite Davis-Woodhall, the reigning World Indoor Champion, brings together with her the longest bounce on the earth 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 Document, has slowly labored his approach again after tearing his ACL in a celeb rugby match in late 2017.
High Georgia highschool sprinters will 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 principle program. Within the 100, 5 of the eight quickest women 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 women’ pole vault couldn’t enhance, with Madison Townsend of Westminster Faculty headlining a showdown of the highest 5 women this season. On the boys’ facet, 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 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 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 boys’s lengthy bounce and a collection of highschool miles, culminating within the boys’ and women’ invitationals, which start at Midtown Excessive Faculty 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 Dwell. Highlights will even be accessible on the adidas Atlanta Metropolis Video games Instagram, Fb, 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