Multiple global gold medallists will compete in Africa over the next two weeks as the World Athletics Continental Tour heats up ahead of the Debswana World Athletics Relays Gaborone 26.
A record number of meetings feature in this year’s Continental Tour calendar, with several nations hosting Continental Tour events for the first time. They include Ethiopia, which welcomes athletes for the Addis Ababa Grand Prix on 18 April.
From there, the next Gold level meeting – the Kip Keino Classic – will return to Nairobi in Kenya on 24 April, before the Botswana Golden Grand Prix in Gaborone on 26 April and the Simbine Classic in Pretoria, South Africa, on 28 April.
World-class athletics will then return to Botswana at the start of next month as Gaborone hosts the World Athletics Relays on 2-3 May.
USA’s treble Olympic champion Gabby Thomas is among the stars set to compete in multiple of those Continental Tour meetings.
The 29-year-old – who gained 200m, 4x100m and 4x400m gold at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games – will be joined in Addis Ababa by her compatriot Dalilah Muhammad, the 2016 Olympic and 2019 world 400m hurdles gold medallist, plus 2022 world indoor 60m hurdles champion Cyréna Samba-Mayela of France.
Canada’s Camryn Rogers will be among the athletes headlining the Kip Keino Classic as the Olympic and world champion defends her hammer title. She has started her season in superb style, throwing 81.13m to improve her own North American record at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays presented by Truist, a World Athletics Continental Tour Challenger event, in Austin, USA, at the start of this month.
Thomas and Muhammad will take to the track again for the Botswana Golden Grand Prix, where they will be joined by the likes of Canada’s two-time Olympic gold medallist Andre De Grasse, South Africa’s world 400m record-holder Wayde van Niekerk and Kenya’s African 100m record-holder Ferdinand Omanyala.
A competitive 300m clash has been announced for the Simbine Classic – a meeting held in partnership with South African 100m record-holder Akani Simbine. In the 300m, Zambia’s Olympic 400m bronze medallist Muzala Samukonga will take on a field featuring the likes of South Africa’s Zakithi Nene and Lythe Pillay.
The Continental Tour is divided into four levels – Gold, Silver, Bronze and Challenger. The status of each meeting is determined by the quality of competition and prize money on offer.
Athletes from at least 30 countries across all continental areas will compete in each of the upcoming Gold, Silver and Bronze meetings in Nairobi, Gaborone, Pretoria and Addis Ababa.
The Addis Ababa Grand Prix is the first ever one-day meeting to be held in Ethiopia and is expecting 30,000 fans to attend.
The expansion of the Continental Tour calendar reflects the work done by the World Athletics Competitions and Events Department to develop a Continental Tour structure in Africa. The Continental Tour has been embraced by the African athletics community, with a key element the opportunity it offers athletes to collect valuable world ranking points close to home.
More than 290 meetings are included in this year’s Continental Tour calendar, which runs through to November.
Upcoming Continental Tour meetings in Africa
18 April: Addis Ababa Grand Prix, Addis Ababa (ETH) – Bronze
24 April: Kip Keino Classic, Nairobi (KEN) – Gold
26 April: Botswana Golden Grand Prix, Gaborone (BOT) – Silver
28 April: Simbine Classic, Pretoria (RSA) – Silver
