The IAAF World Indoor Tour kicks off in Boston on Saturday at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix with six British athletes taking to the boards.

This season’s tour includes 11 point-scoring disciplines, and is a quest that concludes with a US$20,000 prize and a wildcard entry into the IAAF World Indoor Championships Nanjing 2020. There are six stops in the series including the Muller Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham on Saturday 16 February.

Out of the six athletes competing, only Lynsey Sharp (coach: Terrence Mahon, club: Edinburgh) is involved in the point-scoring discipline, in the unique 600m race. The Scot will face World Indoor 800m finalist Raevyn Rogers (USA) and Georganne Moline (USA) who was part of the gold-medal winning 4x400m relay team at the Worlds in Birmingham last March.

The men’s 3000m will see a trio of Brits in action with Andy Butchart (Mahon, Central AC) returning to competitive indoor action for the first time since the Milrose Games in 2018 after injury cut his season short. Chris O’Hare (Mahon, Edinburgh) – always a threat on the indoor circuit – will join the contest while Andrew Heyes (Steve Vernon, Hallamshire) completes the British representatives in the field.

The men’s 3000m will also see a rematch between last year’s mile winner, Edward Cheserek (KEN), and the meet record holder, Hagos Gebrhiwet (ETH), the latter an Olympic and world medallist.

Over the prestigious women’s mile race, Hannah England (Bud Baldaro, Oxford City) lines-up among a highly competitive field. Emma Coburn (USA) – 3000m steeplechase world champion from 2017 – steps down in distance, while Dawit Seyaum (ETH) – 2016 World Indoor silver medallist over 1500m – will be one to watch out for.

Finally, Guy Learmonth (Henry Gray, Lasswade) makes his first appearance of the season over 800m against a field that includes 2016 Olympic 800m bronze medallist Clayton Murphy (USA).

More information can be found here.