Campbell-Brown faces bitter rival Felix on June 12

NEW YORK, CMC – June 12 has been set as the date for the two best female half-lap runners in the World to stage a showdown.

Veronica Campbell-Brown, the two-time Olympic gold medallist from Jamaica, and Allyson Felix, the three-time World champion, have been given a race date for the Adidas Grand Prix next month here.

Campbell-Brown and Felix have dominated the 200 over the last five years, but they will contest the distance for the first time on American soil.

The two have raced eight times over the distance with Felix holding the 6-2 advantage. Both of Campbell-Brown’s victories however, came in the Olympic Final.

“New York is one of those cities you just love to compete in; after all, it is the ‘World capital’,” said Campbell-Brown in an official news release.

“I especially love the world-renowned Jamaican track fans that are always in attendance.”

The 27-year-old Campbell-Brown captured the headlines at the start of the season with her victory in the women’s 60m dash at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in early March in Doha.

It was her first World Indoor title and her first major championship title since earning gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  The 24-year-old Felix won Olympic gold in 2008 in the 4x400m and is a two-time Olympic 200m silver medallist.

She is the reigning three-time 200 World champion, beating Campbell-Brown on all three occasions for the title.

Felix is also one of 14 official IAAF Diamond League ambassadors, and will open her Diamond League season in Doha on Friday.

Trinidad & Tobago’s Kelly-Ann Baptiste, as well as Carmelita Jeter and Marshevet Myers (née Hooker), two other Americans, make the women’s 200 an eye-catching event.

The 23-year-old Baptiste is the national record holder over the distance for T&T with a time of 22.60 secs, which she ran in Brazil last year. The 30-year-old Jeter is in the best form of her life, and has established herself as the second-fastest woman ever over 100 metres with a time 10.64 seconds. She last raced over 200m in May last year. The 25-year-old Myers was a 2008 Olympic finalist over the distance.

The men’s 100 dash also looks appealing with mega start Usain Bolt set to face a stable of Caribbean challengers.