The New Balance Indoor Grand Prix at the Reggie Lewis Center starts the fifth edition of the World Athletics Indoor Tour, which is due to include stops in Karlsruhe on January 31, Dusseldorf on February 4, Torun in Poland on February 8 and Glasgow on February 15.

The event is set to embrace a new venue, Liévin in France, on February 19, before the final stop in Madrid on February 21, when the Series champions will be determined.

Ali is racing for the first time since winning the women’s 100 metres hurdles title at last year's World Championships in Doha, and will face a strong field in the 60m hurdles, including 2018 World Indoor silver medallist Christina Clemons and twice world indoor champion Lolo Jones.

Brazier broke the world indoor best in the 600m, when he clocked 1min 13.77sec to win the US indoor title last March - an ideal start to a year which finished with World Championship 800m gold in a national record 1:42.34.

In a year in which all tracks lead to Tokyo 2020, he will seek to replicate his 2019 exploits by starting his season with another 600m outing.

The prodigious 20-year-old home talent Sydney McLaughlin will be opening her season with a run over 500m.

McLaughlin ran the third-fastest time ever, 52.23sec, in pushing US compatriot Dalilah Muhammad to improve her own world record to 52.16 in last year's world women's 400m hurdles final.

Another stellar US talent, 2017 women's world 3,000m steeplechase champion Emma Coburn, is due to run over two miles.

Germany's world 5,000m bronze medallist Konstanze Klosterhalfen will start her season over 1500m in Boston.

The men’s mile will provide a highly competitive meeting between home runner Clayton Murphy, the Rio 2016 800m bronze medallist, and New Zealand's 36-year-old double Olympic 1500m medallist Nick Willis.

In the men’s 1,000m, 22-year-old Bryce Hoppel - who went undefeated on the US collegiate circuit last year before finishing fourth in the World Championships 800m final in a personal best of 1:44.25 - will test his provenance against another hugely promising runner in the form of Britain's Jake Wightman, the European and Commonwealth 1500m bronze medallist.

The fifth edition of the world governing body's indoor tour features 11 points-scoring disciplines.

There are six for men - 60m, 800m, 3,000m/5,000m, pole vault, triple jump and shot put - and five for women - 400m, 1500m, 60m hurdles, high jump and long jump.

Each athlete's best three results will count towards their points score, and the athlete with the most points in each discipline at the end of the Tour will be declared the winner and receive a $20,000 (£15,000/€18,000) bonus.

Tour winners will be eligible for wildcard entry into to the World Athletics Indoor Championships, scheduled to take place in Nanjing from March 13 to 15, subject to the approval of their national governing body.