The adidas Boost Boston Games has been trying new approaches since its beginnings in 2017. In 2020, the Games took a hiatus due to the covid 19 pandemic, and this year, Mark Wetmore and his team at Global Athletics, plus major sponsor adidas came back with amazing fields.
Watch on NBC TV on Sunday, May 23, 2021.
Know this, the races and fields wil be hot and the athletes want to race! Most media (such as moi) will be covering remotely, and while that is most unfortunate, it is also part of the challenge of how to bring our sport back!
Don’t miss a moment, on NBC, on adidas Boost social and also on RunBlogRun!
Stephen Gardiner, Dafne Schippers, Grant Holloway, Noah Lyles, Wayde Van Niekerk, photos for Global Athletics
BOSTON, Mass. (May 18, 2021) – World champions Noah Lyles, Wayde van Niekerk, Steven Gardiner, Dafne Schippers and Grant Holloway are set to lead the fields at the adidas Boost Boston Games on Sunday, May 23, organizers announced today.
The adidas Boost Boston Games, a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting, is North America’s first and only “street meet,” bringing world-class track and field out of the traditional stadium and onto a temporary straightaway track in the heart of one of America’s iconic cities.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, no spectators will be permitted for this year’s adidas Boost Boston Games, but can be seen live in the United States on NBC from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. EDT on Sunday, May 23 and internationally via local broadcasters and the World Athletics YouTube channel.
Leading the field in the men’s 100m will be Noah Lyles. At the 2019 World Athletics Championships, Lyles won the 200m title and anchored the USA to gold and a new national record in the 4x100m. Lyles is also a two-time adidas Boost Boston Games winner at 150m, and most recently won his outdoor 2021 debut over 200m at the USATF Golden Games in 19.90, the third-fastest time in the world this year.
The men’s 200m is set to feature an exciting clash between the last two world champions at 400m, Wayde van Niekerk and Steven Gardiner. Van Niekerk is the 2016 Olympic champion and world record-holder at 400m, and won gold in the same discipline at the 2017 World Championships. This will be van Niekerk’s first time at the adidas Boost Boston Games since 2017, when he ran 19.84 to set the still-standing event record in the men’s 200m.
Gardiner won the world title over 400m in 2019 in a Bahamian record of 43.48, and has not lost a race over his specialty distance in over two years. Gardiner’s best for the straight 200m stands at 19.88, a mark set during his win at the adidas Boost Boston Games in 2018.
While both van Niekerk and Gardiner are returning as previous adidas Boost Boston Games winners, the Netherlands’ Dafne Schippers will be taking to the blocks on Sunday for her Boston debut. One of the most decorated sprinters competing today, Schippers has won seven global individual medals, including the 2015 and 2017 World Championships gold and 2016 Olympic silver medals over 200m. In Boston, Schippers will race in the 100m, where her she will face American Aleia Hobbs. Hobbs is the 2018 USA and NCAA champion at 100m and currently owns the fourth-fastest time in the world this year for 100m at 10.91.
Also making his first appearance at the adidas Boost Boston Games will be Grant Holloway, the 2019 world champion in the 110m hurdles. Holloway, an eight-time NCAA champion for the University of Florida, is coming off a sensational indoor campaign that saw him go undefeated in all of his competitions. In the final race of his indoor season, Holloway ran 7.29 to break Colin Jackson’s 27-year-old world record in the 60m hurdles.
Exciting match-ups can be found in both the men’s and women’s 600m road races, set to be run earlier in the day. The women’s 600m will see Ajee’ Wilson, the 2019 World Athletics Championships bronze medalist and American record-holder at 800m, take on Jamaican 800m record-holder Natoya Goule. In the men’s race, three of 2021’s fastest 800m runners will clash: Bryce Hoppel, the 2020 US Indoor Champion and third-fastest man the year over 800m will make his debut at the adidas Boost Boston Games where he will face Canada’s Pan American Champion Marco Arop, and Kenyan national 800m indoor record-holder Michael Saruni.
The adidas Boost Boston Games, produced by Boston-based Global Athletics and Marketing, Inc., is part of the 2021 World Athletics Continental Tour Gold and will be broadcast live from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. EDT on NBC on Sunday, May 23 and internationally via local broadcasters and the World Athletics YouTube channel.
More on the adidas Boost Boston Games is available on www.adidasboostboston.com and via
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Twitter: @adidasBoostBos
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