OTC Elite athletes step onto Diamond League stages

By Curtis Anderson | Jul 20, 2018

EUGENE, Ore. – The world’s track and field spotlight shines on back-to-back Diamond League meetings in Monaco and London this weekend, and four Oregon Track Club Elite athletes are ready to compete on those prestigious stages.

OTC Elite’s Francine Niyonsaba and Nijel Amos are both entered in the 800 meters in Monaco on Friday, while teammates Hassan Mead and Andrew Osagie will race in London.

This will be the sixth Diamond League meeting of the season for Niyonsaba, who is coming off consecutive 800m wins in Lausanne (July 5) and Rabat (July 13). The reigning Olympic silver medalist from Burundi set her PR of 1:55.47 in Monaco last year. She leads the 2018 DL standings in the women’s 800m with 36 points.

Amos, the 2012 Olympic silver medalist from Botswana, is set for double duty this weekend. After competing in Monaco on Friday, he’ll join Great Britain’s Osagie in the 800m in London on Sunday.

Amos has run the 800m three times this year.

He placed eighth at the Commonwealth Games in Australia to open his season in April – a performance hindered by a calf injury – followed by second-place finishes at the Pre Classic in May and the Istvan Gyulai Memorial in Hungary on July 2. Amos set his season best of 1:44.18 in Hungary.

Osagie, a 2012 Olympian, clocked his season-best time of 1:45.09 at the Hengelo FBK Games in June, followed by a PR of 2:17.18 in the 1,000m in Stockholm. He went on to place fourth in the 800m at the British Athletics Championships in Birmingham, a mere 16-hundredths of a second out of first place.

Mead, who placed third in the 5,000m at the 2018 USATF Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, will compete in a loaded 5,000m field on Saturday in London. He set his 2-mile PR of 8:24.09 at the Pre Classic in May, and tuned up for his London appearance with a runner-up performance of 7:51.41 in the 3,000m in Barcelona on July 11.