by Larry Eder
The adidas City Games have moved from Boston to Atlanta. The event will happen on May 6, 2023, and each release gives us more and more athletes competing in this exciting event in downtown Atlanta.
Olympic & World Medalists to Compete at adidas Atlanta City Games.
Meet to Serve as Homecoming for Sprinter Gabby Thomas
ATLANTA – APRIL 12, 2023 – Four athletes with a combined eight World Championship and Olympic medals have been added to the lineup for the inaugural adidas Atlanta City Games, set for May 6 in downtown Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park.
Four of those medals belong to the reigning Olympic Champion at 400m, Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas, who will test his speed in the 100 meters after missing the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene due to a tendon injury.
Gardiner is the 2019 World Champion in the 400m and won a silver medal at the 2017 World Championships event. He also has a bronze medal from the 4x400m relay at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The 2020 Olympic Bronze Medalist Gabby Thomas will line up in the women’s 150 meters. Thomas, the fourth-fastest 200m runner in history, is coming off victories in the 100m and 200m at the Texas Relays earlier this month. The adidas Atlanta City Games will be a homecoming for the former Harvard standout: Thomas was born in Atlanta and lived in the city until the age of 11.
“I’m really looking forward to competing in the Atlanta City Games. The city of Atlanta is my childhood home, so it’ll be fun to return,” said Thomas, who also has a silver medal from the 4x100m at the Tokyo Games, “The atmosphere of the meet will be electric with great competition, so it’ll be a great opportunity to see how I stack up against the other talented runners at this point in the season.”
Sprint and hurdle events will be run on a specially built, elevated five-lane track in Centennial Olympic Park, a crown jewel of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The 600m road race will feature a matchup between two of North America’s best middle-distance runners: Bryce Hoppel, the 2022 World Indoor Bronze Medalist at 800m, and Marco Arop, the 2022 World Outdoor Bronze Medalist at the same distance. Hoppel won the 800m U.S. Indoor title earlier this year. Arop represents Canada and is also the 2019 Pan American Games Champion.
A full list of athletes who have been announced for the meet so far can be found here.
Set for the evening of Saturday, May 6, the adidas Atlanta City Games is free and open to the public. The meet will also be broadcast live on adidas’s YouTube channel. The day will kick off with the Run with Maud 5K at 8 a.m., a fundraiser for the Ahmaud Arbery Foundation to celebrate the life of Arbery, who was murdered while running in 2020. The afternoon session will begin with middle schoolers competing on the sprint straightaway, with performances expected from the fastest youth athletes in the state of Georgia. Later in the afternoon, runners and walkers of all abilities will participate in the Running City Mile, a road mile race where runners will compete against people in their own age group. Registration for that race, open to everyone, is available here. The Running City Mile will culminate with a professional race, after which everyone is invited to stay and cheer some of the best track and field athletes in the world at the adidas Atlanta City Games.
