NO fewer than eight Scottish athletes will battle against the best the athletics world has to offer in Birmingham next week at the IAAF World Indoor Championships – with Laura Muir and Eilish McColgan confirming their intention to double up in both the 1500m and 3000m and perhaps the most surprising selection being Grant Plenderleith in the 4x400m relay.
The former Stenhousemuir player, who considered returning to junior football after an injury-plagued 2017, gets a precious return to the world stage as a reward for his bronze medal over 400m at the SPAR British Indoor Championships, with Mhairi Hendry earning a thoroughly merited call-up alongside Shelayna Oskan-Clarke in the 800m after a couple of storming runs in the opening months of the year which have seen her cut her Personal Best by more than two seconds.
Chris O’Hare, who missed the British trials with a foot problem, gets the nod over Charles Da’vall Grice for the 1500m alongside his countryman Jake Wightman, with Eilidh Doyle – who appeared in great shape when taking out victory in the British Championships on Saturday – joined by Zoey Clark in another all-Scottish entry for the women’s 400m.
Scots pre-dominate also, of course, in the running in the women’s distance categories, where Muir the reigning European Indoor champion in both disciplines – and McColgan – the newly-crowned British 1,500m champion - get two chances to return to the podium in Birmimgham.
“The IAAF World Indoor Championships are the first major event of an exciting year with Commonwealth Games and European Championships also on the horizon,” said Neil Black, the performance director of British Athletics. “We have selected a British team with a good mixture of experienced international competitors and talented, up-and-coming athletes keen to test themselves against the best in the world.”
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