Three south west London athletes will represent Great Britain at this weekend’s European Indoor Athletics Championships in Glasgow.
Although most of the athletics season takes place outdoors, at the beginning of the year the competitions are based indoors.
Indoor track events are shorter in distance because the track is only 200m in length. Events range from the 60m sprint up to the 3,000m and the multi-eventers compete in the heptathlon and the pentathlon.
A record 49 athletes will represent Great Britain to compete at the home championships. Here are south west London’s representatives.
Kristal Awuah
The 19-year-old, who trains with Herne Hill Harriers, is making her senior international debut this weekend in Glasgow. The sprinter had a breakthrough year in 2018 when she won two bronze medals at the IAAF world under-20 championships in the 100m and 4x100m. So far this season, Awuah recorded a personal best of 7.19 seconds at a 60m in Berlin, came third at the British Championships, and will be hoping to continue her good form in the sprint at Glasgow.
Asha Philip
Kingston University graduate Philip (pictured above) goes into Glasgow as the defending 60m champion having won the European Indoor title in Belgrade in 2017 with a personal best of 7.06 seconds. The 28-year-old started the season well with a win in Dortmund, claiming the title at the British Championships and a second-place finish behind Elaine Thompson at the Muller Grand Prix in Birmingham.
Adelle Tracey
The 800m runner was one of the torchbearers at the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony and her career has progressed in the years since. In 2017, the 24-year-old competed for St Mary’s University at the Universiade finishing in fifth place in the 800m. At the British Championships a few weeks ago, Tracey finished third and at the Muller Grand Prix in Birmingham she finished second behind fellow Brit Shelayna Oskan-Clarke.
Glasgow 2019 will be live on BBC2 this weekend with the first round of the women’s 800m on Friday 1 March at 11.10am GMT. The 60m sprint events begin on Saturday morning, culminating in the final that evening.
Feature image from Wikimedia.
