Sri Lanka national record holder Yupun Abeykoon will vie to come up with flying colous and prove his class when he features in the men’s 100m event at the Florence leg of the Wanda Diamond League 2023 on June 2.
Abeykoon will face stiff competition in the event, with top runners like reigning World Champion Fred Kerley, Olympic Champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs and Commonwealth Champion Ferdinand Omanyala in the line-up all set to race in Florence.
As if that’s not enough stardom in one race, Yohan Blake, former World Champion and Trayvon Bromell, former Indoor champion, will also compete in the event alongside Commonwealth Games silver medallist Akani Simbine.
Samuele Ceccarelli is the only one to feature in the race, who hasn’t recorded a sub 10 second 100m, with the fastest recorded time among the eight being Yohan Blake who registered 9.69 back in 2012.
Abeykoon is the first and only Sri Lankan athlete to have featured in the Diamond League, having first run in 2021 and since featured in five races, including two Zurich Diamond Leagues.
The official start list for the event is:
Yupun Abeykoon (Sri Lanka) – Commonwealth Bronze Medalist (2022), Yohan Blake (Jamaica) – World Champion (2011), Samuele Ceccarelli (Italy) – European Indoor Champion over 60m (2023), Akani Simbine (South Africa) – Commonwealth Silver Medallist (2022), Trayvon Bromell (USA) – World Indoor Champion (2016), Ferdinand Omanyala (Kenya) – Commonwealth Gold Medallist (2022), Lamont Marcell Jacobs (Italy) – Olympic Gold Medallist (2020) and Fred Kerley (USA) – World Champion (2022)