18 January 2013

World 4x100m record holder Carmelita Jeter, one of the stars of last summer’s Olympic Games with three medals, has announced that she will compete in the 60m at the British Athletics Glasgow International Match on Saturday 26th January.

Jeter will be running for USA as she goes head-to-head against teams from Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Commonwealth, Germany and Russia in the unique international format at Glasgow’s new state-of-the-art 5,000 seat Emirates Arena.

Jeter, the second fastest woman of all time over 100m, boasts a personal best in the 60m of 7.02, which incidentally is two-hundredths of a second faster than anyone has ever run in the UK, and will be looking to put in a strong performance in Glasgow at the end of the month.

The 33 year old last competed in Glasgow in 2010, where she was a comfortable winner in 7.19, and the 2011 World 100m champion is keen to assess her fitness leading into the new season.

“The British Athletics Glasgow International Match will give me a real opportunity to see if my training is going as well as I think it is in the early stages of my season.

 “I love coming to the UK, because the fans are great. They treat me so well – it’s definitely the crowd and the energy, and the response I get. I feel as if I’m a hometown girl so it’s always good to get invited here.”

At the London Olympics last summer, Jeter won gold as part of the USA’s world record setting 4x100m team and also picked up silver in the 100m and bronze in the 200m. With another important year ahead, Jeter sees indoor races such as the British Athletics International Match as a major part of her preparations, as she looks ahead to the defence of her world 100m title in Moscow later on this year. 

“2013 is another important year for me so I would like to start well with good performances indoors, to set me up for the outdoor season and the World Championships in Russia in August.”

Joining Carmelita Jeter in Glasgow will be World Indoor 4x400m relay champion Perri Shakes-Drayton (Chris Zah), Olympic high jump bronze medallist Robbie Grabarz (Fayyaz Ahmed), World Indoor pole vault bronze medallist Holly Bleasdale (Dan Pfaff), World Indoor long jump bronze medallist Shara Proctor (Rana Reider), World Indoor Champion Yamile Aldama (Frank Attoh), 400m hurdles Olympic semi-finalist Eilidh Child (Malcolm Arnold),  former World 100m Champion Kim Collins and Scotland’s three-time Olympian Lee McConnell (Rodger Harkins).

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