Ten to watch at the Müller British Grand Prix in Gateshead
With Strong fields for the Wanda Diamond League in North East England across a full program of events on Tuesday 13th July you can pencil your viewing plan or even get live tickets at Gateshead!
The GP event is the final major track and field meeting before the Olympic Games begin and the Elmsley Carr mile is the pick of the endurance events from a British perspective.
Emsley Carr Mile
This great race dates back to 1953 and we will see Jake Wightman (handicap -7.1) and Elliot Giles (handicap -7.1) battling for their place in the history books.
Men’s 3000m
In Monaco on Friday, Mohamed Katir ran a Spanish 1500m record of 3:28.76 and Stewart McSweyn of Australia clocked an Oceania best of 3:29.51 – and they return to the track on Tuesday in the North East of England over 3000m.
Katir has a good record at Gateshead as he won the 5000m at the Diamond League on 23rd May. But he will face a huge test this time against McSweyn, Jacob Krop of Kenya and Yeman Crippa of Italy. There are a number of British contenders too led by British 5000m champion Patrick Dever (handicap -7.1).
Men’s 100m - Trayvon Bromell holds the world-leading mark of 9.77 in 2021 and won at the US Olympic Team Trials in style. But he will be looking to bounce back from the Diamond League in Monaco last Friday where he finished fifth.
Bromell takes on Olympic medallist Andre De Grasse of Canada in Gateshead in addition to British sprinters CJ Ujah, Adam Gemili and Zharnel Hughes.
Women’s 200m - Jamaica’s reigning Olympic 100m and 200m champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, who clocked 10.71 for the shorter distance earlier this month at the Contintental Tour Gold meeting in Szekesfehervar, will be looking to fine-tune the defence of her titles in Tokyo and will be facing a line-up which includes Nigerian Blessing Okagbare.
Women’s long jump - Katarina Johnson-Thompson continues her build-up to the heptathlon at the Tokyo Olympics by testing her fitness in one of her individual events in Gateshead. But she faces a tough line-up that is led by world champion Malaika Mihambo of Germany.
There is also British champion Jazmin Sawyers and fellow Tokyo-bound Brit Abigail Irozuru plus Ukrainian Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk, the runner-up to Mihambo at the last World Championships.
Women’s pole vault - Holly Bradshaw is in terrific form after her 4.90m UK record at the Müller British Athletics Championships last month. In Gateshead on Tuesday she faces the world leader in 2021, Katie Nageotte, together with fellow American and reigning world indoor champion Sandi Morris.
British champion Jodie Williams also features, alongside Manchester silver medallist Beth Dobbin.
Women’s 400m hurdles = Femke Bol of the Netherlands and Shamier Little of the United States went No.4 and No.5 on the world all-time rankings for 400m hurdles during an exciting race at the Diamond League in Stockholm this month. They clash again in Gateshead in a field that includes British hopes Meghan Beesley and Jessie Knight.
Para women’s 100m - More than half of the British Olympic team will be action in Gateshead and it will be a great opportunity for the home crowd to give them a great send-off before they travel to Tokyo. But there are also a number of Paralympics-bound athletes at the meeting in a series of non-Diamond League para races.
The women’s 100m, for example, includes Paralympics gold medallist Sophie Hahn and recent European champion Maria Lyle.
Men’s 110m hurdles - World indoor champion Andrew Pozzi has a big pre-Olympics test on home soil as he takes on Olympic champion Omar McLeod of Jamaica, while British champion Tade Ojora is also in action after racing this weekend in the European Athletics Under-23 Championships in Tallinn.
Men’s javelin - Johannes Vetter has Jan Zelezny’s long-standing world record of 98.48m in his sights. The German threw 97.76m at the end of last summer and has been in great form this year too with a throw of 96.29m in Poland recently. Records aside, at Gateshead he takes on world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada and 2012 Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad & Tobago.
The Müller British Grand Prix in Gateshead will be broadcast internationally from 7-9pm on
Tuesday 13th July with BBC Two showing the action from 6.30pm.
Tickets for the Müller British Grand Prix are available at britishathletics.org.uk