100m Showdown the Main Event in Stockholm
Friday's Diamond League Meeting in Stockholm is the first international competition since last week's European Athletics Championships in Barcelona.
The best performers in that tournament will face fierce competition from the rest of the world in Sweden.
In the men's 100m, Tyson g*y, Usain Bolt, and Asafa Powell will face each other for the first time this season. The trio have not entered the same race since the 2009 World Championship final in Berlin.
Then, Bolt outsprinted his two rivals and finished in 9.58 seconds, improving his own 2008 world record by 0.11 seconds. g*y came second in 9.71 seconds, while Powell won the bronze in 9.84 seconds.
This season, Bolt beat Powell in the Diamond League Meeting in Gateshead by clocking 9.84 seconds. g*y also beat Powell in July's Diamond League Meeting in Paris.
Since last month, Bolt has had time to rehabilitate an Achilles tendon injury that has been troubling him this season, meaning a season's best can be expected on Friday.
“I love it when I am in a race with Tyson and Usain, there is a lot more excitement when this is happening," Powell told the website of the event. "It makes me more focused and brings the best out of me."
Bolt is undefeated since his last race in Stockholm in 2008 when Powell defeated him in 9.88 seconds. Last year, Tyson g*y won the event in 9.79 seconds.
Friday's event, held at the 1912 Olympic Stadium in the Swedish capital, will pit many other world class athletes against each other.
European Champions to Be Tested
Croatia's Blanka Vlasic, who won gold in the women's high jump in Barcelona, will face the runner-up from that competition, Swedish prospect Emma Green.
Having set a personal best of 2.01 in last Sunday's final, Green will seek to better her performance in front of her home crowd.
With the Olympic and World titles already to his name, Sweden's Christian Olsson will make a competitive return to the men's triple jump, having pulled out of the European Championships with a heel injury.
Olsson will face Phillips Idowu of Great Britain, whose 17.81m jump earned him the gold medal in Barcelona.
In the women's long jump, the three European medalists will face each other again. Latvian Ineta Radevica won the European gold medal, while Portugal's Naide Gomes won silver, both reaching 6.92m in the final. Russian bronze medalist Olga Kucherenko, who only managed to jump 6.84m in last week's final despite her season's best of 7.13m, will also feature.
The European trio will face competition from US World champion Brittney Reese, who has jumped 6.94m in 2010.
In the men's 800m, Sudanese World Indoor Champion Abubaker Kaki Khamis will start, though his main rival, Kenyan two-time African Champion David Rudisha, will not.
Asbel Kiprop, who won the 1500m Olympic gold in Beijing two years ago, will also feature in the 800m race.
Jackson Eyes Stadium Record
Meanwhile, US 400m hurdler Bershawn Jackson will have his eyes set on the stadium record of 47.98 seconds, set by Danny Harris in 1990.
Having clocked 47.32 seconds this season, the 27-year-old stands a clear chance of improving Harris' time.
He will be challenged by two-time World champion Kerron Clement, as well as Puerto Rico's Javier Culson, who came second at the 2009 World Championships.
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