Kilty earns lifeline after British snub
Organisers step in to invite champion to race Sprinter rides mental ‘roller coaster’ in saga
Richard Kilty admits it will be “awkward to say the least” when he attempts to win a hat-trick of European indoor 60 metres titles next week. He is running only because event organisers invited him after he was left out of the British team.
British Athletics filled one of three male sprint spots for the Glasgow European Indoor Championships after enforcing stricter qualification than most other countries.
Kilty, who is on the comeback trail from major surgery, clocked 6.63sec last weekend – a time well inside the European Athletics standard of 6.78sec – but was not given a place in the British team, as they require athletes to run 6.60sec.
The omission of the double reigning champion sparked an outcry within the sport and, embarrassingly for British Athletics, prompted event organisers European Athletics to step in yesterday and invite Kilty to compete. That means he will wear a British vest alongside Ojie Edoburun and look to extend the country’s run of winning a men’s 60m medal at the previous 16 editions of the competition, despite his own body refusing to select him.
“It’s been a mental roller coaster,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “When I found out I wasn’t going to be selected, I don’t think I’ve ever been so upset in my career.
“I started wondering where I was going with my career. I was devastated that I was going to miss a home championships.
“From the moment I got out of surgery, I started visualising competing in Glasgow. I really feel like I can win it. I’m getting better race by race and when I get to a championships I feel like a different person.”
As for competing in a British vest after the selectors chose not to pick him, Kilty said: “It’s going to be awkward to say the least. But when I pull that vest on it’s for the British people, my family and friends – it’s for nobody else. I’m doing it to prove to myself I can get over these little bits of adversity that I’ve faced over the past few months and days.”
Explaining the decision to invite Kilty, Svein Arne Hansen, the European Athletics president, said: “This situation of a defending champion from the host nation being fit but not making his or her national team is fairly unusual. Our invitation is really a special case. It helps the individual athlete, but more importantly it shows that we are ready to react to opportunities that will help our events succeed.”
Kilty has made his name as a 60m specialist, storming to a shock world title in 2014, before following that with European gold in 2015 and 2017. Injuries forced him to undergo Achilles surgery last summer, but he has improved with each race this winter.