13 February 2015

Chijindu Ujah (coach: Jonas Tawiah-Dodoo, club: Enfield & Haringey) was in confident mood on the eve of the Sainsbury’s Indoor British Championships in Sheffield.

Britain’s best athletes will go head to head at Sheffield’s EIS on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 February as they battle for the honour of being crowned British champion and the added incentive of securing a place on the Great Britain & Northern Ireland team for the European Indoor Championships in Prague next month.

Ujah, who became just the fifth British man to break 10 seconds for 100m last summer with a run of 9.96 in Hengelo, will line up in the 60m tomorrow and is hopeful of at least a top two placing that would book his place on the GB & NI team.

He said: “My goals for the Sainsbury’s Indoor British Champs this weekend are to execute a good race. Actions speak louder than words!”

20 year old Ujah started his season with a 60m personal best of 6.53 in London last month and has taken confidence from his start to 2015.

“I started back late after a hectic season last year and training has been going really well. I opened up two weeks ago with a PB, but obviously from training I knew what kind of shape I was in. I didn’t actually execute in that final but to run that time was a good.

“This year there’s a fire in my belly as last year I didn’t get to run at European’s like I wanted to; there’s more determination to get the job done properly.”

Local athletes Luke Cutts and Adam Hague (both Trevor Fox and The Dearne ALC) also spoke to the media ahead of going head to head on home turf in the pole vault.

Speaking on his 27th birthday, British senior record holder Cutts is excited about facing his training partner Hague, who broke the British junior pole vault record with 5.55m in Vienna two weeks ago.

Cutts said: “I’m looking forward to the Sainsbury’s Indoor British Championships; the hope from my part is for both me and Adam to be on the podium. I could have jumped a bit better in my previous competitions this season but hopefully I’ve been saving it all for Sunday.”

Meanwhile 17 year old Hague said: “We have a home crowd which will be a really good advantage because they’ll know who we are so we’ll want to get them involved and make a really good atmosphere. Breaking the British junior record was amazing, I didn’t think I’d do it this early so I’ve got better targets for the rest of the season to jump 5.60m and keep improving.” 

To view a full list of competitors for the Sainsbury’s Indoor British Championships please visit http://www.britishathletics.org.uk/british-athletics-series/sainsburys-indoor-british-champs/athlete-information/

It has also been confirmed that Vinco Sport will stream both days of the Sainsbury’s British Championships live, the stream will be available at www.vincosport.com.