Reigning world indoor champions Michelle Carter, Jenn Suhr and Vashti Cunningham are among 39 Olympians in the field for the US Indoor Track and Field Championships that start Friday.
The three-day meet at Albuquerque, New Mexico, also boasts 2012 Olympic champion Aries Merritt and two members of the US women’s gold medal 4x400m relay from last year’s Rio Olympics, Phyllis Francis in the 300 meters and Courtney Okolo in the 600.
Carter, whose father was a three-time Super Bowl champion and Olympic shot put silver medalist, captured the women’s world indoor shot put crown last year at Portland, Oregon, and added Olympic gold at Rio while Suhr, the 2012 Olympic pole vault champion, added world indoor gold last year.
Cunningham, the daughter of former NFL quarterback Randall Cunningham, will defend her US high jump crown as will Erik Kynard, the 2012 Olympic runner-up, in the men’s event.
Merritt, the London Olympic 110m hurdles champion, also won the world 60m indoor crown in 2012, the same year he set the outdoor world record of 12.80 seconds.
Sam Kendricks, who took Rio bronze in the pole vault, will try to claim his third consecutive indoor US title while Kenyan-born Paul Chelimo, third in the 5,000m at Rio, seeks his first US indoor crown in the men’s two mile event.
Ajee Wilson, a three-time US indoor champion who set an American 800m record at last month’s Millrose Games, should battle Okolo in the women’s 600 while Suhr figures to be tested by Sandi Morris, last year’s Olympic women’s pole vault silver medalist.
Clayton Murphy, an 800m bronze medalist at Rio, will be a favorite in the men’s 1,000.
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