During the European Championships in Zurich last year, the British team held a lighthearted battle of the sexes over who would win the most medals. It raged for days. But despite a number of brilliant performances – including gold medals for Jo Pavey, Eilidh Child, Tiffany Porter and the 4x100m relay team – the women fell just short with nine of Britain’s record 23-medal haul.
Even so, that medal tally emphasised the growing strength of British women in the sport. The European Indoor Championships, which begin in Prague on Thursday, should rubber-stamp it.
In multiple events there are medal opportunities waiting to be grasped. Unsurprisingly, having set British indoor records in the high jump and long jump in recent weeks, Katarina Johnson-Thompson is the strong favourite for the pentathlon. Jenny Meadows, the only women’s athlete to break the two-minute barrier for the 800m this year, is also a near-cert in her event.
Meanwhile in the women’s 400m, the 20-year-old Seren Bundy-Davies has come from nowhere to be the third fastest women indoors over 400m in the world – and the fastest in Europe – this year. The biomedical sciences student did not qualify for last year’s Commonwealth Games after a series of niggles but showed her potential and shocked herself by beating the world indoor champion Francena McCorory in Birmingham last month.
“I’m surprised but at the same time I believe it’s important to believe you can do these things,” she says. “I think it’s important to believe you can run faster than you have done or what’s the point?”
There are plenty of other live chances for Britain’s women. In the women’s 60m, the world junior champion Dina Asher-Smith – who has run four of the top 20 times this year – goes up against the European 100m and 200m champion Dafne Schippers. Laura Muir, the second fastest European over 3,000m this year, did enough at the recent Birmingham Indoor grand prix to suggest that she is coming nicely to the boil.
There is another strong theme here: youth. Take out the evergreen Meadows, who turns 34 next month, and none of the rest of Britain’s women’s medal hopefuls in Prague is over 22 which bodes well for the future.
On the men’s side, there are plenty of medal chances too despite the withdrawal of the Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford. The men’s 60m looks particularly strong with the world indoor champion Richard Kilty going up against the exciting Chijindu Ujah, who turns 21 while the team are in Prague. Lawrence Clarke also has a good medal chance in the men’s 60m hurdles, as does Charlie Grice in the men’s 1500m.
It all bodes well for what should be a strong showing by the British team. In this event in 2009 they finished fifth in the medal table. In 2011 they were fourth. In 2013 they were third with four golds, three silvers and a bronze. They will expect to go even better again in Prague, and while the British Athletics performance director, Neil Black, never sets targets, there is every chance that the British team can top the medal table here in Prague.
Schedule highlights
Friday
8.45am women’s pentathlon 60m
10am women’s pentathlon high jump
12.15pm women’s pentathlon shot put
3.10pm women’s pentathlon long jump
3.40pm men’s 400m semi-final
4.10pm women’s 400m semi-final
4.35pm women’s pentathlon 800m
4.55pm men’s long jump final
5.35 pm women’s 60m hurdles final
5.55pm men’s 60m hurdles final
Saturday
3.30pm women’s high jump final
3.45pm women’s long jump final
4pm men’s pole vault final
5pm women’s 800m semi-final
5.15pm women’s shot put final
6.10pm women’s 400m final
6.30pm men’s 400m final
6.45pm men’s 3000m final
Sunday
1.30pm women’s 60m semi-final
1.55pm men’s 60m semi-final
2.15pm women’s 800m final
2.30pm men’s 800m final
3.05pm women’s pole vault final
3.10pm women’s 1500m final
3.25pm women’s triple jump final
3.30pm men’s 1500m final
3.55pm women’s 60m final
4.15pm men’s 60m final
4.35pm women’s 4x400m final
4.55pm men’s 4x400m final
