Dafne Schippers and Elaine Thompson to Face Off Over 100 Meters in Doha

By Adam Kopet

The organizers for the Doha Diamond League meeting announced Tuesday that Dafne Schippers and Elaine Thompson will race the 100 meters May 4 at the opening Diamond League event of 2018.

Schippers is the two-time IAAF World Outdoor champion and 2016 Olympic silver medalist over 200 meters from the Netherlands. The former heptathlete also captured a silver medal in the 100 at the 2015 IAAF World Outdoor Championships and a bronze medal in the heptathlon at the 2013 IAAF World Outdoor Championships.

Thompson's sprint pedigree is just as good. The Jamaican became the first woman since Florence Griffith-Joyner to win the 100-200 sprint double at the Olympics.

Thompson's 2016 double Olympic win came 28 years after Griffith-Joyner. Thompson is also the reigning Diamond League 100 champion. She went undefeated in Diamond League 100 competition in 2017.

Also in the race will be Marie-Josée Ta Lou and Murielle Ahouré, both of the Ivory Coast. Ta Lou earned silver medals in the 100 and 200 at last year's IAAF World Outdoor Championships and in the 60 at the recently completed IAAF World Indoor Championships.

Ahouré took home the gold in the 60 indoors, the first World Indoor title for Ivory Coast in any event.