Track Classic Lures U.S. Stars

Published by The Age on February 5, 2014

Dual Olympic gold medallist LaShawn Merritt will compete at next month's Melbourne Track Classic, potentially in a head-to-head clash with Australia's Olympic finalist Steve Solomon.

Merritt is one of a trio of US sprint stars competing in Melbourne and Sydney in the final stages of the domestic athletics tour.

The gold medallist in the 400 metres and 400 metres relay in Beijing, and who has also served a 21-month ban for taking banned substances, will come to Australia with Olympic bronze medal hurdler David Oliver, and 100 metres specialist Mike Rodgers.

Solomon is potentially able to briefly return from the US, where he is studying medicine on an athletics scholarship at Stanford University, to compete in Melbourne at the March 22 event, but running commitments for Stanford will prevent him from competing in Sydney a week earlier.

Merritt served a ban for drug use but won the right in court to defend his title at the London Olympics, where he subsequently strained a hamstring in a heat and was eliminated.

He had been suspended for returning three positive tests for the presence of a banned substance. He said he had inadvertently taken the drug, which was contained in a penis-enlargement cream.