Two of the biggest international stars in athletics will take part in the Sainsbury’s Birmingham Grand Prix on Sunday. Allyson Felix is a multiple Olympic and world champion over 200m, 400m and the relays and Kirani James is the Olympic and world champion over 400m. Both athletes hold an impressive athletics CV and will be hoping to showcase their class as they entertain the crowd at the Alexander stadium on Sunday.
Allyson Felix will line-up in the 100m in the Diamond league for the first time this season where a world class field has been assembled. The American will line-up alongside Diamond race leader Tori Bowie, 2011 IAAF World Champion Carmelita Jeter, European sprint medallists Myriam Soumare and Jodie Williams as well as Britain’s best, Asha Philip, Ashleigh Nelson and Desiree Henry.
The Grenadian superstar Kirani James will take on a strong field in the 400m including African champion, Isaac Makwala, newly crowned European champion Martyn Rooney and the European silver medallist, Matthew Hudson-Smith.
Here is your quick guide to the achievements of these global superstars.
Allyson Felix
Allyson Felix is an eight-time world outdoor champion and four-time Olympic Champion, one of the greatest female athletes of all time. Her first world title came back in 2005 in Helsinki over the 200m. The 2007 world championships in Osaka symbolised a landmark moment in the American’s career as she became a triple world champion in the 200m and both relays, which was closely followed by an Olympic gold medal as part of the 4x400m quartet in the Bird’s Nest in 2008. She was a double world champion in both 2009 and 2011 but her defining moment came at the London Olympic in 2012 where she became a triple Olympic champion in the 200m and both the 4x100m and 4x400m relays. One of the most stunning moments of the Games was the world record breaking performance by the American quartet in the 4x100m. Felix was part of the team which broke the East German’s longstanding record and will go down in history as one of the moments of London 2012.
Kirani James
Kirani James is an Olympic, World and Commonwealth champion. At the age of 21 years old, this is a staggering list of honours but one which the young Grenadian is hoping to improve further of the next few years. James burst onto the scene at the world championships in Daegu in 2011 which saw him take on LaShawn Merritt, his American rival. James narrowly won the title by three hundredths of a second from Merritt. James added further glory at the London 2012 Olympic Games as he won the title and the first gold medal ever for his country. The Commonwealth Games was his next chance to earn another major honour in a third consecutive year. Again, James was successful in front of the British crowd at Hampden Park.
Kirani James has been heralded as potentially the next world record holder in the 400m by no other than Michael Johnson, the current world record holder. After a 43.74 personal best earlier this year at the Lausanne Diamond league, which also coincided as a Diamond league record, the calls of a world record are not without merit. At a junior level, James again won both the IAAF World Junior and IAAF World Youth titles, even the 200m gold in the latter. His transition from a decorated junior career to an illustrious few years in the senior ranks has been smooth and he will be looking for more of the same over the next few years.