The race was won by Great Britain’s Reece Prescod in a personal best 9.93 while fellow British teammate and former Kingston College sprinter Zharnel Hughes was third in the same time as Blake.
Jamaican Tokoyo Olympic finalist Candice McLeod ran a season’s best 50.38 for second in the Women’s 400m behind Poland’s Natalia Kaczmarek who ran a personal best 50.16. Another Polish athlete, Anna Kielbasinska, was third in 50.38, equaling her own personal best.
Puerto Rican Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn sped to 12.56 for victory in the Women’s 100m hurdles ahead of Poland’s Pia Skrzyszwoska who ran a personal best 12.65 and the USA’s Nia Ali (12.69).
It was a Caribbean 1-2 in the Men’s Javelin as Grenadian 2019 World Champion Anderson Peters continued his fine form this season with a throw of 87.88m to win ahead of Trinidadian 2012 Olympic Champion Keshorn Walcott (84.77m). Germany’s Julian Weber was third with 83.92m.
Cuba’s Maykel Masso won the Men’s Long Jump with 8.14m ahead of the Czech Republic’s Radek Juska (8.11m) and France’s Augustin Bey (8.00m).
Italy’s Marcell Jacobs and Canada’s Andre De Grasse, the Olympic gold medallists over 100m and 200m respectively, will clash over the shorter distance, then De Grasse will double up by contesting his specialist event.
Gardiner, meanwhile, will take on world indoor champion Alexander Doom over one lap of the track.
The Bahamian, who has a season’s best of 44.45, could be pushed by the Belgian, who won in Marrakesh last week with a lifetime best of 44.51.
Not including the few races where he has pulled up injured, Gardiner has been undefeated over 400m since the 2017 World Championships.
Elsewhere, Jacobs has had just two individual outings this year, the latest being a 10.07 season’s best to win in Rome last weekend.
That makes the Italian the fastest of the Ostrava field this year on season’s bests, though he’s also one of four men in the line-up with a sub-10-second PB.
De Grasse, meanwhile, has a best this year of 10.11 and recently finished second at the Diamond League meeting in Marrakesh.
Britain’s Reece Prescod, who set his PB of 9.93 in Ostrava when winning in the Czech city two years ago, will be one to watch, as will Jamaica’s Ryiem Forde.
Later in the evening, De Grasse will take on Jamaica’s Andrew Hudson and Britain's Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake in the 200m.
In the men’s javelin, home favourite Jakub Vadlejch will take on European champion Julian Weber and two-time world champion Anderson Peters.
Four-time global medallist Vadlejch recently won in Doha with 88.38m, which puts him just one centimeter ahead of Weber on this year’s world list. Peters is close behind with a best of 86.62m.
