Andre Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter
Marrakech, Morocco:

Leader of the Americas team and president of the North America, Central America and Caribbean Area (NACAC) Victor Lopez, is extremely confident that the region will end the 2014 IAAF Continental Cup on top, while hailing the competition as an innovative means of attracting more support to the sport.

The two-day competition is set to get under way inside the Grande Stade de Marrakech, in Marrakech, Morroco today.

Lopez, who also underlined the camaraderie among the athletes, who hail from fifteen countries in the region, including Jamaica, also highlighted the all round class of the team, which boasts 33 current and former World and Olympic champions, eight 2014 Diamond Race winners and eight 2014 world leaders.

There are also four reigning global individual champions in Caterine Ibarguen (2013 world title in Triple Jump), Lashawn Merritt (Olympic gold in 400m), Keshorn Walcott (Olympic gold in Javelin) and Francena McCorory (world indoor gold in 400m)

"I honestly think that this team is much better than the team in 2010. The 2010 team we ended up with three or four events that we were very weak in, where we had to go down the list to find someone or someone couldn't come because they were hurt and we had to call another athlete in at the last minute just to have representation," Lopez said.

"Now we have in every event, top people. If you look at the rankings, they are in the top 10, all of them and in some events we have the best in the world and Diamond League champions," boasted Lopez. "So across the board, we have a great team."