Sir Mo Farah and More – Which Athletes to Watch Out for at the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix
Athletics fans will be heading to the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham on Saturday to see a host of track and field stars in action at the Műller Indoor Grand Prix – and coverage of this prestigious sporting event will also be broadcast live on BBC One. So what’s on the schedule and which famous names will be in action this weekend?
The Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix – A Brief Guide
One of the UK’s best-known athletics meetings, the Indoor Grand Prix has taken place every year since 2000.
The last of 2017’s five IAAF World Indoor Tour events, this year’s competition is likely to be a thrilling one. Not only will the overall winner of each discipline featured on the tour win US$20,000, they’ll also qualify for next year’s IAAF World Championships.
The Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix is also seen as a great guide to what could happen at the European Indoor Athletics Championships which, this year, will take place in Belgrade’s Kombank Arena from 3 – 5 March.
This year, spectators at the Barclaycard Arena will be able to watch action from ten of the eleven IAAF World Tour disciplines:
- The men’s 400m
- The men’s 1500m
- The men’s 60m hurdles
- The men’s high jump
- The men’s long jump
- The women’s 60m
- The women’s 800m
- The women’s 3000m
- The women’s pole vault
- The women’s shot put.
The overall winners of several of the featured disciplines have already effectively been decided. Orlando Ortega and Joanna Jozwik have already done enough to win the men’s 60m hurdles and women’s 800m events respectively, while Bahrain’s Donald Thomas is set to claim the men’s high jump title. The eleventh IAAF World Indoor Tour title, the women’s triple jump, has also already been claimed, by Patricia Mamona.
However, many of the other finals are likely to be hard-fought battles, so there’ll be plenty of exciting action to watch. The day’s schedule also includes a host of non-Tour events, including women’s 1000m, men’s 5000m, and junior relay events.
Which Stars Will be Competing at the 2017 Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix?
The biggest name set to compete in Birmingham on Saturday is Sir Mo Farah, who will be taking part in the men’s 5000m. Mo, who has four Olympic gold medals to his name, has won this event on six occasions.
Scottish athletics star, Laura Muir, who broke the British indoor 5000m record in January and the European indoor 3000m record earlier this month, will also be hoping to put in another gold medal-winning performance when she takes part in the 1000m.
Katerina Johnson-Thompson, who finished sixth in the heptathlon at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, will be competing in the long jump, in a field which also features Jazmin Sawyers, who won a silver medal in the European Championships last year, and Lorraine Ugen, who came home from the 2016 World Indoor Championships with a bronze medal.
Pavel Maslak and Bralon Taplin will be battling to take the overall IAAF World Indoor Tour men’s 400m title, while Dina Asher-Smith, who was part of Team GB’s bronze medal-winning 100m relay team at the 2016 Olympics, will be hoping to improve on her current sixth place standing on the IAAF World Indoor Tour women’s 60m table.
Are you an athletics fan? Which athletes will you be cheering on at the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix on Saturday? Add a comment below, or tell us on Twitter or Facebook.