The centrepiece to the British indoor season gets underway in Birmingham tomorrow, with a whole raft of world-class international athletes set to descend upon The National Indoor Arena. The Aviva Grand Prix offers the majority of British entrants their last, and most competitive, taste of action before they set sail for Istanbul and the IAAF World Indoor Championships in three weeks time. Saturday also promises to unveil several rivalries between those elite athletes set to clash throughout 2012, with many opening their competitive accounts for the Olympic year in Britain’s second city.
Men: sprints
British spectators can expect another Jamaican clean sweep in an international sprint event, with the confirmed entries of Lerone Clarke, Nesta Carter and Asafa Powell in the 60m. Clarke, the eldest of the three at 30, has run the two fastest times in the world this year over the distance. He eclipsed his previous world-lead of 6.52 with a scintillating 6.50 as recently as Tuesday at France’s Liévin venue. Powell and Carter are somewhat unknown quantities with only 50m results to their name this year, at 5.64 and 5.67 respectively. As the third-fastest man in history over 100m, Powell cannot be discounted, whilst Carter has a time of 6.52 to his name from 2011 for the 60m event. Trell Kimmons and Kim Collins should also make the final.
Reigning UK Indoor champion Nigel Levine and British number three Luke Lennon-Ford are the only men in the 400m field to have logged times in 2012. Levine’s season’s best of 46.58 could prove competitive given how much racing he has already done over this indoor season. However, he must contend with Costa Rica’s Nery Brenes, if he is to win in front of a home crowd tomorrow. Brenes, a two-time World Indoor finalist, ran a personal best 44.65 outdoors last year and looks the class act in the race. Although, World Indoor champion Chris Brown may have something to say about that, despite a disappointing race at the Aviva International Match last month.
In the strictly domestic 400m race, Richard Buck will face off with Michael Bingham one week after the latter came out on top by 0.03sec, in the UK Indoor Trials & Championships at Sheffield. Kent athlete Conrad Williams is also set to open his account for the event tomorrow after focussing on the 60m and 200m thus far in 2012.
The British quintet entered into the men’s 60m hurdles may find the going a little tough tomorrow and could be happy with a spot in the final alone. The reason being the presence of current World Indoor champion Dayron Robles, and former World Indoor champion Xiang Liu. The latter has not raced in 2012 and there is no indication, as yet, of what shape the Chinese may be in. Robles on the other hand, set a mediocre season’s best of 7.55 in Düsseldorf last week, as he was beaten by 24-year-old indoor specialist Kevin Craddock. American Craddock is also due on the start line in Birmingham tomorrow, and as the joint-fastest (7.53) in the field this year should go close to winning. Aries Merritt, the other 7.53 athlete, is also likely to make this race one of the closest of the day.
Men: endurance
With a sixth-place finish in the semi-final of the World Indoors two years ago his greatest achievement to date, it is with great surprise that tomorrow’s master of ceremonies will introduce Austria’s Andreas Rapatz as the 800m field’s fastest athlete in 2012. In an astonishing race at Vienna last weekend, Rapatz (25) broke Austria’s national indoor record with a 1:46.65 clocking. His outdoor personal best of 1:48.12, set in 2009, is clearly evidence for how much the Austrian has improved throughout the winter. Should the little known Austrian struggle under the weight of being race favourite, there are two world class Africans ready and willing to take up the mantle. Mohammed Aman of Ethopia, who famously brought David Rudisha’s winning streak to an end in Milan last September, recorded an indoor personal best of 1:46.80 in Liévin on Tuesday. Whilst World Indoor silver medallist Boaz Lalang is also entered and could well front run the race, given his pacemaking exploits under the instructions of Rudisha on the outdoor circuit in the past.
In the 1500m, youth will clash with experience as British fans witness how much middle distance speed remains in the legs of 37-year-old Bernard Lagat. Lagat must tackle a selection of Africans in their twenties, all of whom are more than capable of beating him on their day. Bethwell Birgen, 23, is the second-fastest over the distance in the world this year with a 3:34.65 performance at the International Hallen Meeting in Karlsruhe last Sunday. Nixon Chepseba (21) and Gebremedhin Mekonnen (23) are two other entrants inside the world’s top-10 fastest in 2012. The man Mo Farah beat to win the Aviva International Match last month, Augustine Choge, may prove Lagat’s biggest threat. Choge has ran under 3:34 for the past two years at the Aviva Grand Prix, and will almost certainly be perfectly prepared for a third-year running. Lagat, as has been well-publicised, is in good shape himself following a new indoor American 5000m record (13:07.15) last weekend in New York. His experience will prove crucial in executing any plans suited to his current form and fitness in winning the race.
It has been a little over 18 months since Mo Farah was last beaten on British soil. He was beaten in a sprint finish by the great Lagat on an August weekend in Crystal Palace, and lost out by 0.39sec. Farah has been a truly dominant force in global distance running since then and should start tomorrow’s 2 Mile event without any serious concerns over his predictable home victory. Instead he must race the clock and look to send a message to his close American training partner, Galen Rupp, who notched a U.S. indoor record by running 8:09.72 for the same distance last week. Perhaps he will be helped to a good pace by the Kenyan athletes Eliud Kipchoge and Gideon Gathimba, the only athletes who resemble anything like Farah’s class in the field. One wildcard athlete, though, is the German Arne Gabius. The 30-year-old ran 7:38.13 in Karlsruhe on Sunday to go seventh on the European all-time indoor list for the event, as he missed out on Dieter Baumann’s German record by just 0.62sec.
Men: field
Another of Great Britain’s favourites in their event is Robbie Grabarz in the high jump competition. The Newham & Essex Beagle catapulted himself into the spotlight of British athletics with an outstanding 2.34m clearance in Germany last month, which made him the third highest jumper in the world this year as well as the joint-third highest British jumper of all-time. There are only two other 2.30m-plus jumpers this year in the field. Michal Kabelka jumped seven centimetres higher than he had ever done before indoors, when he cleared 2.31 at a meeting in his native Slovakia three weeks ago. The other is number two Briton, Samson Oni, who beat Grabarz to the national indoor title last weekend. Oni recorded a 2.31 height in the Czech Republic last month. Look out too for Bahaman Donald Thomas, a former World champion outdoors and the current Commonwealth champion. Yet to pull up any trees in 2012, he is a wily competitor, capable of getting it right on the day.
Grabarz, 24, ended the 2011 season joint-second in the British rankings with Martyn Bernard, after a leap of 2.28m at the World Trials & UK Championships. With little else to shout about in a 2011 to forget, the Fayyaz Ahmed-coached jumper did some soul searching and made some tough, but necessary decisions in the autumn. A 12th-place finish in the 2006 IAAF World Junior Championships final was arguably his greatest accolade prior to 2012, but the decisions Grabarz has made have all but paid off, given spectators should now consider him one of the best high jumpers this nation has ever produced.
“It’s gone really quite well for me so far this year. I have had a very good winter, which I think has been a result of the decisions I made at the end of last summer. I am not all that surprised about the jump I made in Germany, the work I have done and the effort I have put in through the off season had indicated I should be jumping as I have done,” he said.
“I made the decision to become a professional who dedicated 100 per cent of their time to the sport. You have to make it happen for yourself in athletics, you can’t expect to just turn up to the track and expect great things. You must attack it with all you have and ensure you maximise your improvement in every session.
“I admit that I had been approaching high jump with a 90 per cent attitude. After I had come through a very disappointing 2011 I became fed up with just getting by and wanted to make the most of what talent I had at my disposal.
“Those close to me, I know, weren’t surprised by what I jumped. They have seen the work I put into training and the efforts I have gone to, to succeed this winter. It wasn’t even a particularly good jump, I just wanted to win that particular competition so badly. I wasn’t even aware that the World Championship silver medallist (Aleksey Dmitrov) was in the competition; it was the win I wanted, not the scalp.”
Grabarz’s personal best jump would have been good enough to claim medals at every global outdoor championship since the 2004 Olympics, apart from the thrilling contest which ensued at the 2007 Osaka World Championships, where all three medallists cleared 2.35m. Needless to say, the former Bedford & County athlete is excited about where this year may lead with the Olympics on the horizon. His mentality is refreshingly competitive, Grabarz is a man dedicated to not becoming an anonymous British jumper making up the numbers, which may have become the case with only three global medals in the event for over 100 years.
“2.34 has almost always won a medal at a global championships in high jump. It’s a very exciting time for me, but this is why I do it and what I set out to do when I became a high jumper. It’s so refreshing and inspiring to know I am finally in a position to compete with the world’s best and to not just be an ‘also-ran’,” the Birmingham-based athlete said.
“I had always seen 2.28 as a height at the bottom of the world-class bracket and as the person who I am, I judged that as being nothing. I had never aimed to come into this sport and just be British number one. We are just a small island with not too much to shout about if you really analyse the facts and figures. I have tried to get over that national mentality and I now look to see where I am on an international scale. I want to be world number one.”
Some track & field commentators have begun comparing Grabarz to the great Swedish high jumper Stefan Holm in recent weeks. The short black hair, high white socks, exaggerated mannerisms and exceptional leg-spring are all apparently mere coincidences according to the Briton: “It is total coincidence! I was told after the event in Sheffield about what the commentators had said throughout the coverage and I was totally baffled, almost annoyed that the comparison had been made when I have never studied or followed any of his (Holm’s) videos. I don’t mind too much though, it’s not too bad to have your technique and approach associated with one of the greatest jumpers of all time.”
In the long jump, the four furthest jumpers are separated by just eight centimetres this indoor season. Godfrey Mokoena, a former World Indoor champion, is likely to start as favourite with an 8.04m to his name already this winter. Young talents Eusebio Cáceres from Spain and Elvijs Misans of Latvia have also surpassed eight metres in 2012. The British flag will be flown by J.J. Jegede, who clearly tops this year’s domestic indoor rankings with a 7.96m effort in Sheffield last weekend.
Beset by injury problems since his only ever Great Britain vest at the 2007 European Athletics U23 Championships, Jegede has long been one of the country’s sources of untapped potential. Now coached by Jonathan Edward’s former mentor Peter Stanley, the Hackney-born athlete has settled in the north-east and has set his sights on an especially homely Olympics. The unfunded jumper classes himself as an adrenaline junkie and a man for big occasions, like that of tomorrow at the NIA.
“When the announcement for the Olympics was made in 2005 I was living in Hackney. There is going to be an Olympic Games literally in my back garden and from the day of the announcement I have promised myself I’ll be there. The announcement has given me the hunger to push on and come through all the injury problems, to move to Newcastle and train away from my family and friends,” said Jegede, of his relocation to live near his coach.
“I have that chance to compete with the big guns this weekend, where I really hope I’ll do myself justice and put my name out there. I know there is an eight-metre jump in the tank somewhere indoors. If you look at all the athletes I’m competing against on Saturday, you’ll see that their outdoor distances are 20 centimetres further than their indoor jumps; take my 7.96 metres and I should be already approaching the Olympic qualifying standard.
“I am absolutely buzzing about the competition. It’s a big chance that I haven’t had all that often. I just hope I take it and do my best in front of a home crowd.”
Women: sprints
British athletes will again be pleased to even make the final in the 60m event, such is the strength of entrant to tomorrow’s races. The vastly improved American, Tianna Madison, will take some stopping if she approaches her best on Saturday. Better known for her long jumping exploits as outdoor world champion in 2005, Madison set a devastating world-leading time of 7.02 in Fayetteville last weekend. None of the other three athletes to have broken the 7.10 barrier this year are entered tomorrow, which makes Madison a clear favourite. World 100m finalist Ivet Lalova, and Americans Barbara Pierre and LaKya Brookins may get the closest. Britain’s Jeanette Kwakye may get on tomorrow’s podium, should she run a season’s best.
The women’s 400m looks to be a battle between Great Britain newcomer Shana Cox and the Czech Republic’s European Indoor champion Denisa Rosolová. Formerly of the United States, Cox transferred her allegiances last year with her parents and brother each born on these shores. The Woodford Green & Essex Lady is officially the fastest in the field this year after a 52.38sec performance at the Indoor UK Trials & Championships. Rosolová, however, set her outdoor personal best (identical to Cox’s incidentally) just last year and has a far more impressive indoor best of 51.73, set last year also.
The darling of Great British athletics, Jessica Ennis, will lock horns with 100m hurdles World Championship silver medallist Danielle Carruthers, in arguably her strongest event, the 60m hurdles. Ennis equalled her lifetime best (7.95) for the event last weekend in Sheffield and looks a good bet for the race victory in front a partisan home crowd. Carruthers has also run 7.95 this year, but has gone under 7.90 at her very best in 2006. Canada’s Nikkita Holder may capitalise should the two favourites concentrate too heavily on one another.
Women: endurance
The 800m looks a fairly open contest. Lenka Masná is the fastest in 2012 at 2:02.88, but American Morgan Uceny’s 2:03.35 was for first place in a New York race in which she was barely pushed. Uceny’s indoor personal best of 1:59.97 from the Aviva Grand Prix last year may make her the pre-race favourite. Great Britain’s Marilyn Okoro is still too far away from her 2009 personal best of 1:59.27, to be in contention with Masná and Uceny’s pace at the head of the pack. The little-known 21-year-old Kenyan Winny Chebet will also line up in tomorrow’s race. An outdoor personal best just outside two minutes set two years ago in Nairobi, suggests she may be ready to break the barrier tomorrow.
It may be a case of running against the clock in the 1500m for the fastest woman in the world this year. Genzebe Dibaba did just that in Germany last weekend, as she raced away from Kenyan Hellen Obiri to win by six seconds and record 4:00.13 as the world-leading mark. Hannah England, Birmingham’s home favourite, is unlikely to have any response to such strength and endurance if the Ethiopian hits it hard from the gun. England’s outdoor personal best of 4:01.89 may have proved quick enough at the peak of summer, but the Bud Baldaro-coached star has never been in such fine shape on the indoor circuit.
The 3000m field are likely to be racing for second-place in the midst of Meseret Defar tomorrow. The indoor world-record holder for the event has won the last four World Indoor titles on the bounce and looks nigh on invincible over 15 laps. She is, predictably, the current world leader with 8:33.57 to her name after a resounding victory in Boston a fortnight ago, at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix. Pleasingly for British fans, Helen Clitheroe returns to indoor action for the first time since her second-place finish at the Aviva International Match in Glasgow. It was at the Aviva Grand Prix last year where the Preston runner claimed her personal best of 8:39.81 for the distance. The 38-year-old must contend with the might of Africans Obiri and Meselech Melkamu, if she is to edge a spot on the podium.
Women: field
Given she will be on home soil and chasing the national record, Shara Proctor should be the woman to beat in the long jump tomorrow. The indoor personal best (6.68m) she jumped in Sheffield last weekend shows she is in the form of her life at the moment. The Birchfield Harrier may be pushed hardest by American Brianna Glenn, who has an outdoor personal best of 6.87m, set last year.
Proctor, originally from Anguilla of the Lesser Antilles, was one of several athletes to recently transfer to British citizenship and compete for the nation. The former University of Florida student says she made the move to evade the International Olympic Committee’s block on Anguilla competing at the Games. The 23-year-old is still based in Daytona Beach, Florida for the majority of the year, but has temporarily moved to Birmingham for the last few weeks, as she competes around Europe, in an indoor season which has ticked all her boxes.
“It involved lots and lots of paperwork and took over a year to complete the transfer. 2010 was probably a good year to do it, because there were no big meets for me. Anguilla isn’t recommended by the IOC (International Olympic Committee), so I had no choice but to transfer if I wanted to compete at the Olympics,” Proctor revealed.
“I am very pleased with how 2012 has gone so far. I came into the indoor season with no expectations upon myself. All I have been aiming to do is jump the 6.65m standard required to make the World Indoor Championships. I was delighted to do it at Sheffield in the Trials.
“It’s going to be a very good competition on Saturday and I think it gives me the perfect chance to go out and break the national record (Sue Telfer and Jo Wise’s jointly held 6.70m). To do it on home soil and in front of a home crowd would be extra special.
“I live to be on top. I work hard, do all this training and travelling so that I can see myself on the all-time lists as one of the all-time greats. It is an honour to already be so high up the British list and of course I think I can see myself as the best British jumper ever at some stage. Maybe in the next two years it could happen, maybe even this year!”
UK Athletics are all but guaranteed a British winner in Holly Bleasdale tomorrow. If the Blackburn Harrier vaults to her potential, then she should have the competition sewn up after her 4.87m clearance in Villeurbanne last month. If anyone should upset the party, it is Poland’s European Indoor and former outdoor World champion Anna Rogowska. The 30-year-old peaked at 4.85m indoors last year, to take that continental crown in France. A best of 4.60 thus far in 2012, suggests she may not yet be in shape to worry a well-supported Bleasdale.
Beren Cross
beren.cross@hotmail.co.uk
