14th June 2019

MCCOLGAN AND POZZI AMONG THE BRITISH CONTINGENT IN RABAT

The IAAF Diamond League rolls on to Rabat this Sunday, with six Brits in action, while several others will be chasing standards in Samorin, Geneva and at the BMC meeting in Loughborough as well.

Following a superb start to her track season, Eilish McColgan (coach: Liz Nuttall; club: Dundee Hawkhill) returns to the 1500m distance in Morocco, following her personal best and Scottish record over 5000m in Hengelo last week. Her revised best of 14:47.94, coupled with the world and Olympic standard of 4:02.29 over 1500m at the Rome Diamond League, have been two standout moments so far.

Sarah McDonald (David Harmer) also goes in 1500m which will be the first track event of the summer season for the Birchfield athlete. She was second at the Vitality Westminster mile last month behind Melissa Courtney.

Following a second-place finish in the 110m hurdles in Rome, Andrew Pozzi (Santiago Antunez; Stratford-upon-Avon) will be looking to continue that impressive form in Rabat. Sergey Shubenkov (ANA), who won in the Italian capital, will face the Briton once more.

Holly Bradshaw (Scott Simpson; Blackburn) joins a strong line-up in the women’s pole vault, with Olympic champion Katerina Stefanidi (GRE) who won in Shanghai, and European Indoor champion Anzhelika Sidorova (ANA) two of the leading names.

Following a collision which ended Lynsey Sharp’s (David Harmer, Edinburgh) involvement after one lap in Oslo on Thursday, she will return to the circuit quickly. Winner in Oslo, Halimah Nakaayi (UGA) will be looking to repeat her triumph on African soil.

In the high jump, Chris Baker arrives with a season best of 2.26m from indoors. Olympic bronze medallist Bohdan Bondarenko (UKR) won the high jump competition in Rome last time around, so will be one to watch in this event.

Start lists here.

Watch the Rabat Diamond League live on Eurosport 1 at 19:00 on Sunday 16 June and BBC One at 00:40 on Sunday and available on the BBC iPlayer soon after.

 

Away from Rabat, the BMC (British Miler’s Club) meeting in Loughborough will incorporate the trial event for the European Junior Championships and European U23 Championships on Saturday, with places up for grabs in Sweden, in Boras and Gavle respectively.

Elsewhere, there are several athletes on the entry lists for the European Athletics Classic Permit meetings in Geneva and Samorin, so these, and many more events, will covered in our weekend round-up on Monday morning.