GB select only ONE sprinter for Europeans

BRITISH ATHLETICS yesterday issued a shaky defence of their selection policy following the farce of only one sprinter making the team for the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow. They face the embarrassing situation of taking only Ojie Edoburun to contest the 60 metres next month and leaving two spaces in the team unfilled. But performance director Neil Black indicated there would be no change to the selection method, which set the qualifying mark at an excessively quick 6.60sec and mandated that athletes must attend the British Indoor Championships. While that latter requirement is sensible, the qualifying time has been questioned within the sport, considering European Athletics impose a far lesser standard at 6.78sec and only seven Europeans have run 6.60sec or better this season. It has meant no place for Richard Kilty, who has won the past two European 60m gold medals but could only manage 6.63sec on Saturday in his final meet before selection. The frustration is exacerbated by Britain having its finest-ever generation of sprinters, led by Reece Prescod, who is the fastest man in Europe this year but has swerved Glasgow. Black said: ‘That has been the qualification mark since 2013 in the European indoors. If you look back through history that is a standard that many people have achieved. No one has ever questioned it in the past.’