Stastny: 'We welcome the competition'

Stastny said that "competition is good, we welcome that", regretting however that the Miami meet clashed directly with the second Diamond League meet of the season.

"What we would have liked to avoid is a day clash with the Grand Slam Track," he added.

"When we have our second Chinese meeting in Shanghai/Keqiao, it has a direct date clash with Grand Slam Track.

"We do establish our calendars well in advance, the main reason being that we allow ... other organizers to look for dates which don't clash. In this case, we have one clash. There's not much we can do about it."

Clash or not, the likes of Norway's Karsten Warholm, US hurdling star Grant Holloway and Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana have spurned the Grand Slam Track by opting to compete in China.

Also taking to the track in Xiamen on the weekend will be Kenya's three-time Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon, in the 1,000m, while teammate Beatrice Chebet, a two-time Olympic gold medalist will face Ethiopia's 5,000m world record holder — and two-time world champion — Gudaf Tsegay over 5km.

AFP