Tapper going for another big win

July 10, 2025
Megan Tapper (left) wins the women’s 100 metres hurdles final ahead of race favourite Ackera Nugent at the Puma JAAA National Junior and Senior Athletic Championships at the National Stadium on June 29.
Megan Tapper (left) wins the women’s 100 metres hurdles final ahead of race favourite Ackera Nugent at the Puma JAAA National Junior and Senior Athletic Championships at the National Stadium on June 29.

JUST under two weeks since her surprise win at the JAAA National Senior Championships, where she upstaged favourite Ackera Nugent to capture her fourth national 100-metre hurdles title in a personal best 12.34 seconds, Megan Tapper will now turn her attention to tomorrow's Herculis Monaco Diamond League.

In what is the 10th stop of the 15-meet Diamond League series, a very confident Tapper will face another stacked field in what has become perhaps most competitive event in track and field this season.

She will line up against the impressive Grace Stark of the United States, the Diamond League leader in the event, who has a season's best 12.21 -- the third-fastest time over the barriers this year. Also in the line-up is world leader Masai Russell of the United States with a best of 12.17, along with compatriot Alia Armstrong who has a season's best of 12.47 and Devynn Charlton of the Bahamas, whose best this season is 12.53.

National 100m champion Tina Clayton will face the starter once again in the women's 100m -- less than a week after going up against St Lucia's Julien Alfred, the Olympic champion, in Eugene, Oregon. In that race, Clayton finished fourth in 11.02 seconds while Alfred suffered her first defeat of the season, finishing second in 10.77 behind the United States' Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, who clocked 10.75 running against a headwind of 1.5 metres per second. The United States' Jacious Sears, who ran a season's best 10.85 to win an invitational 100m at the same meet, will also compete here along with her compatriot Aleia Hobbs, who has a season's best 10.84.

Coming off her first Diamond League success in Rome, Andrenette Knight, with a season's best of 53.67 seconds, will contest the women's 400m hurdles. She will face World champion Femke Bol of the Netherlands, who has a season's best of 52.11 and the US duo of Dalilah Muhammad (52.91) and Anna Cockrell (53.84).

Three Jamaican men will contest field events at the meet, including national triple jump champion and Diamond League leader Jordan Scott, who has secured two wins and a second-place finish to lead with 23 points. Romaine Beckford and Raymond Richards will also be in action in the men's high jump.

An interesting event on tomorrow's programme is the men's 200m, where Olympic bronze medallist Noah Lyles of the United States will make his first appearance on the track this season. He will go up against Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, who stormed to an impressive win in Eugene with a world-leading 19.76 seconds.

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