THE WORLD IS IN OUR HANDS

BRITAIN’S athletes can reignite World Cup fever at London’s Olympic Stadium today, claims team captain Lorraine Ugen.

Eight of the sport’s top nations contest the inaugural Athletics World Cup across eight field events and every track distance from 100m through to the 1500m, plus relays.

There is a £1.5million prize pot and 21 British champions from a possible 29 fly the flag for the home team.

Ugen (above), the world No.1-ranked long jumper, said: “We all feel a great pride in the badge and have definitely been inspired by the footballers in Russia this summer. I think we will continue that. We can rally together as a team, get a bit of spirit, boost our morale again after England, and bring it home!” Jamaica, led by Olympic 100m champion Elaine Thompson (below) and Commonwealth gold medal-winning hurdler Ronald Levy, will have a big say in the destination of the £350,000 Platinum Trophy. The inaugural two-day event is being broadcast live on Sky Sports but critics question its scheduling on one of the busiest sporting weekends of the year. Not only does it clash with the finals of both World Cup and Wimbledon, there is a rival Diamond League athletics event in Rabat. Missing from the British team are stars Dina Asher-Smith, Laura Muir, Reece Prescod, Zharnel Hughes and every one of the 4x100m gold medallists from last year’s World Championships. Organisers hit back, rubbishing claims of paltry ticket sales and claiming 55,000 have been sold for the two sessions.