Tsegay, Girma to kickstart Olympic campaigns in Boston

Gudaf Tsegay, Lamecha Girma, and Grant Holloway will be among the star attractions at the New Balance Grand Prix as they get their 2024 seasons underway at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Boston on Sunday 5.

Tsegay wrapped up her 2023 season in style by smashing the world 5000m record in Eugene. The world 10,000m champion returns to US soil for her first competitive outing of 2024 and what she hopes will be another memorable race.

She will contest the 1500m – the distance at which she holds the world indoor record of 3:53.09 – and will line up alongside 2022 world U20 champion Birke Haylom, who set an African U20 record of 3:54.93 last year, and 2021 world U20 800m champion Ayal Dagnachew, as well as Japanese record-holder Nozomi Tanaka and USA’s Addy Wiley.

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With so many sub-four-minute performers in the field, the meeting record of 3:59.98, set 21 years ago, will most likely come under threat.

Tsegay’s compatriot and fellow world record-holder Lamecha Girma, meanwhile, will line up for the 3000m. In his first outing of 2023 over this distance, he set a world indoor record of 7:23.81, so he’ll be hopeful of producing something special – at least an improvement on the 7:30.82 meeting record – on his 2024 season opener.

The multiple global steeplechase silver medalist will be joined on the start line by his younger brother Diriba Girma, world U20 steeplechase silver medallist Samuel Firewu, and European indoor 1500m silver medallist Neil Gourley.

There are global gold medallists in the three other endurance disciplines in Boston.

In the men’s 1500m, world road mile champion Hobbs Kessler takes on 2022 world 1500m champion Jake Wightman, who’ll be returning to top-flight competition after missing most of last year.

World U20 cross-country champion Senayet Getachew is part of a high-quality 3000m field that also includes world indoor silver medalist Elle St Pierre, world U20 5000m champion Medina Eisa, Fentaye Belayneh, triple world U20 medalist Melknat Wudu and Oceanian record-holder Jess Hull of Australia.

The men’s 1000m, meanwhile, features world 800m champion Marco Arop, world indoor champion Mariano Garcia and world indoor bronze medallist Bryce Hoppel.

By World Athletics