Usain Bolt ... heads the list.

MONTE CARLO:

At least four Jamaicans - Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, Shelly-Ann Fraser and Brigitte Foster-Hylton - appear set to be contracted for next year's IAAF Diamond League.

Since last year, Bolt has taken athletics to another level. Two breathtaking runs, 9.69 seconds (100m) and 19.30 (200m), gave him two world records and two individual gold medals at the Beijing Olympics. At last summer's World Championships in Berlin he lowered the world records with 9.58 (100m) and 19.19 (200m). As expected, he is at the forefront of those who will be contracted by the IAAF.

Glen Mills, Bolt's coach, had earlier confirmed that the Diamond League is their major project next year. He is expected to run seven races.

number one priority

"Competing in the Diamond League is our number one priority, we'll then see how the rest of the season develops and we'll take it from there," Mills said recently.

Ricky Simms, Bolt's competition agent, when contacted, said while the races are not yet decided on, the Jamaican will be running at meets where he had previously competed.Meanwhile, The Gleaner was reliably informed that Powell, who was scheduled to arrive here yesterday, Fraser, winner of the Olympic and World Championships 100m titles, and World 100m hurdles champion Foster-Hylton, are the other Jamaicans to be offered contracts.

Olympic and World 400m hurdles champion Melaine Walker, two-time Olympic 200m champion Veronica Campbell and Kerron Stewart, who won silver in the 100m at both Beijing and Berlin, will also be considered for contracts.

meetings

The IAAF Diamond League, which will replace the 7-race Golden League series, includes meetings in Weltklasse Zurich, Aviva London Grand Prix, Aviva British Grand Prix), Areva (Paris), Golden Gala Rome, Memorial Van Damme in Brussels, Athletissima in Lausanne, ExxonMobil Bislett Games, DN Galan in Stockholm, Herculis (Monaco), Doha Athletic Super Grand Prix, Reebok Grand Prix in New York, Prefontaine Classic in Eugene and China Golden Grand Prix, Shanghai and the biggest stars will be tied to rich contracts for several of the meets.

Each of the Diamond League meetings will offer US$416,000 in prize money as the US$1 million prize previously given to the winner(s) of the Golden League has been scrapped, allowing for the series to feature an IAAF Diamond Race in each of 32 different athletics events, which will give the season winner a four-carat diamond worth about US$80,000.