Zoe Hobbs (Ngāruahine) is back in pre-Olympic action at the Irena Szewinska Memorial in Poland on Friday morning (NZT).
Hobbs will head the women’s 100m field in the northern city of Bydgoszcz following Continental Tour Gold meeting wins in Melbourne and Tokyo this season.
The 26-year-old’s most recent outing was 10 days ago at the USATF New York Grand Prix in the United States, where she was eighth out of nine, after a short turnaround following her flight from Aotearoa.
New Zealand’s fastest-ever woman, who has a career-best time of 10.96 seconds, clocked 11.45 in New York in a field that included two-time Olympic 100m gold medalist Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica and US world 200m silver medalist Gabby Thomas who has run a wind-assisted 10.88 this season.
Hobbs has been training in Europe in the leadup to Friday’s race, set for 6.25am (NZT).
The Irena Szewinska Memorial is named in honour of the Polish sprinter whose career spanned the 1960s and 1970s and is the only athlete in history (male or female) to have set world records in the 100, 200 and 400 metres. Szewinska won seven Olympic medals including three gold.
Hobbs will make her Olympic debut next month in Paris.
This article has been updated to show Zoe Hobbs finished eighth in New York.
