Some of the top figures in the world of athletics will be heading to Cayman next month to compete in the third Cayman Invitational athletics track meet and organisers are particularly excited about the incredibly strong female contingent participating this year.

The event, to be held on Wednesday 7 May, 2014 at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex, will be hosting multi-talented Olympic athletes all set to wow the audience with their world class skills, some of whom are new to the event and some returning athletes.

New participants to Cayman Invitational include Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell-Brown, who will be running the 100m. Ms Campbell-Brown is a seven-time Olympic medalist and nine-time World Champion medalist and only the second woman in the history of athletics to win two consecutive Olympic 200 metre events. She is also one of only nine athletes to win the World Championships at the youth, junior and senior levels at an athletic event.

Gold-medal Olympian Allyson Felix of the United States will be competing in her first Cayman Invitational. She is currently one of the top females in the 200m track event, winning Gold and Silver at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

America’s Dawn Harper will be competing in the 100m hurdles and is a 2008 Beijing Olympic Gold medalist and a 2012 London silver medalist. Ms Harper is the only American 100m hurdler to ever win gold at an Olympics and then medal in the following Olympics.

100m sprinter Murielle Ahoure from the Ivory Coast will also be returning, a double silver medalist at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow and the World Indoor Championships. She is the Ivorian record holder in the 100m and African record holder in the 200m, both indoors and outdoors.

Also participating is 400m hurdler Dalila Mohamed from America, who is a recent graduate from the University of Southern California and is recognised as one of the premier 400m hurdlers, having won a silver medal at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow.

Top athlete, 100m sprinter Kim Collins from St. Kitts & Nevis is another participant, a four-times Olympian, twice Olympic medalist, four-time bronze medalist, Commonwealth and World Champion Gold medalist.

Organisers are delighted to welcome back Jamaica’s Novlene Williams-Mills, who also competed at last year’s Cayman Invitational, a 400m World Champion bronze medalist, three-time Olympic bronze medalist in the 4 X 400m relay and Commonwealth bronze medalist in the 400m. A true heroine, Ms Williams-Mills is a breast cancer survivor, who managed to help Jamaica win a bronze medal in the 2012 London Olympic Games 4 X 400m relay despite the detection of the disease just before the Games.

Jamaica’s Hansle Parchment is also returning to compete in the 110m hurdlers. Parchment, from Jamaica, is a 2012 Olympic bronze medalist and national record holder in the 110m hurdler.

Meet director Cydonie Mothersill-Stephens, a world-class athlete in her own right, as a Commonwealth Games gold medal winner, took delight in announcing the line-up so far at a press conference to mark the event’s launch, held in the Cayman Islands this week.

“We are truly fortunate to be able to welcome some of the world’s most exciting athletes to our third Cayman Invitational track meet,” she said. “These athletes are currently competing at the highest level and we are thrilled Tthat they view Cayman Invitational as such an important event in the international athletics season and are therefore willing to compete here in the Cayman Islands.”

There is still time to become a supporter of this fantastic high level sporting event with sponsorship opportunities available. Currently sponsors include LIME, Cayman Airways (Gold); Tower, DART, VTB, Puma, the Cayman Islands Government and Staatsolie (Silver); and JN Money and the National Building Society (Bronze).

Tickets for this prestigious event go on sale on Wednesday, April 9, and can be purchased from LIME in the Galleria Plaza, Funky Tangs on Shedden Road and JN Money located on Eastern Avenue, George Town. Ticket prices vary depending on your location: $40 for the finish line, $35 for the Grandstand and $25 for the Mackie Stadium.

PHOTO (left to right): Mr Joel Francis, Senior Policy Advisor, Ministry of Health, Sports Youth & Culture; Mr Alva Suckoo, MLA, Councillor to the Minister of Home & Community Affairs; Ms Cydnonie Mothersill-Stephens, Cayman Invitational Meet Director; Mr Dalton Watler, President CIAA.

For more information please visit www.caymanislandsinviatational.com