21st January 2013

Two of Britain’s Olympic heroes will go head-to-head over 600m at the British Athletics Glasgow International Match at the Emirates Arena on Saturday 26th January. Olympic 800m finalist Andrew Osagie (coach: Craig Winrow) will drop down in distance to take on World 400m hurdles champion Dai Greene (Malcolm Arnold) in one of the few 600m races held on the European circuit.

Both athletes will have their sights set on Ikem Billy’s 28 year old British indoor 600m record of 1:17.6. Glasgow will be Greene’s first 600m race since 2006, when he recorded a time of 1:18.8 indoors, whilst Osagie’s only 600m was a 1:20.70 performance outdoors in 2008.

Osagie had a successful indoor campaign in 2012 during which he ran an indoor personal best of 1:46.53 and clinched a bronze medal at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Istanbul. The 24 year old continued to underline his world-class credentials running a lifetime best of 1:43.77 to finish eighth in the Olympic 800m final and move up to fourth in the UK all-time rankings. 

“I had a fantastic year in 2012 – to win a World Indoor medal, reach the Olympic final and run a personal best all in the same year was a dream come true. I want to kick on and keep this momentum going and the indoor events in the British Athletics Series give me a perfect platform to do just that.

“It’s going to be really interesting to test myself in the 600m, it is the first race of the season and shorter than my normal distance but it is great to race over different distances and will give me an idea of where my speed is at, it will be my first time to race a 600m, so I’m sure to get a PB no matter what. The prospect of going up against Dai (Greene) is also something I’m really looking forward to, so hopefully we can give the crowd a great race at the Emirates Arena.”

Greene, who has held European, Commonwealth and World titles over 400m hurdles, will be making his first appearance over 600m for nearly seven years and the 26-year-old is keen to get his new season off to a good start after 2012 was hindered by injury and ended with him finishing in fourth place in the Olympic final.

“This year I will be defending my World title, so it’s really important that I hit the ground running with a strong start in Glasgow. I’m really looking forward to getting a full winter’s training under my belt after last year’s was interrupted, so to compete at this brand new facility in front of a packed crowd is something I’m really excited about.

“It will be the first time I have run indoors since 2007, but it will be good to test out my strength over a longer distance and see how I match up. After setting a personal best last year, I’m hoping to post a good time in Glasgow to set me up for a big year ahead.”

In the British Athletics Glasgow International Match’s unique five team format, Osagie will compete in GB&NI colours whilst Greene will represent a Commonwealth Select team as they take on athletes from the USA, Germany and Russia in the first international athletics event to be held at Glasgow’s new state of the art 5,000 seat arena.

American Duane Solomon, who finished fourth in the 800m at the Olympic Games last year, will pose a serious threat to Osagie and Greene after running 1:16.42 over 600m last year.

Greene and Osagie will be joining Olympic high jump bronze medallist Robbie Grabarz (Fayyaz Ahmed), World Indoor pole vault bronze medallist Holly Bleasdale (Dan Pfaff), 400m hurdles semi-finalist Eilidh Child (Malcolm Arnold), former 100m World Champion Kim Collins, Olympic 4x100m champion Carmelita Jeter and Scotland’s three-time Olympian Lee McConnell (Rodger Harkins) in Glasgow. The Emirates Arena will also welcome some of the stars from the Paralympic Games with four events set to take place at the British Athletics Glasgow International Match.

Watch the British Athletics Glasgow International Match live on BBC1 between 1:30-4:30pm.