Richard Kilty receives Invite to European Indoor Championships

British Athletics have today accepted a special invite from European Athletics for Richard Kilty to compete in the men’s 60m at the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow.

Kilty will now get the chance to defend the European indoor 60m title he first won in Prague in 2015 – a year after becoming world champion over the distance in Sopot – and then retained in Belgrade two years later.

The acceptance of the special invite means all four of Britain’s gold medallists from the 2017 European Indoor Championships – Kilty, Andrew Pozzi, Laura Muir (handicap -2.4) and Asha Philip – will compete in Glasgow.

The size of the Great Britain & Northern Ireland team now rises to 49, which is an outright record for a European Indoor Championships.

Kilty said: “I am really thankful to European Athletics for giving me the opportunity to stand on the start line and realise the dream I set after I had my Achilles surgery. The main thing for me has been to get on that start line as a defending champion at a home championships.

“I struggled mentally for a couple of days after the team announcement but now I feel phenomenal and I can put it to the back of my mind and run for my family, my fans and the home crowd – that is all I am thinking about.

“I want to please the fans and the home crowd that want to see me run in Glasgow and I want to make my family proud. Once again I am so thankful for the opportunity from European Athletics and I can’t wait to stand on the start line and try and make history by winning a third title in a row.”

The endurance athletes selected for the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow are :

800m

Guy Learmonth (handicap -5.6)         

Joe Reid (handicap -5.3)        

Jamie Webb (handicap -5.5)                 

 

1500m

Robbie Fitzgibbon (handicap -5.3)     

Elliot Giles (handicap -5.7)     

Neil Gourley (handicap -5.5)

 

3000m

Andrew Butchart (handicap -5.2)       

Charlie Grice (handicap -5.2) 

Chris O’Hare (handicap -5.6)

 

800m

Mari Smith (handicap -0.8)                 

Adelle Tracey (handicap -1)   

Shelayna Oskan-Clarke (handicap -0.7)

 

1500m

Sarah McDonald (handicap -1.1)       

Laura Muir (handicap -2.4)                

Jemma Reekie (handicap -0.8)

 

3000m

Melissa Courtney (handicap -2.0)      

Eilish McColgan (handicap -2.4)        

Laura Muir (handicap -2.4)