19th May 2021
HAHN, CLEGG AND COX AMONG PARA ATHLETES AT MÜLLER GRAND PRIX GATESHEAD
- After event moves from Morocco to Britain it gives domestic para athletes a valuable competitive opportunity
- Series of para athletics races will kick off the programme on Sunday 23rd May
Paralympic and world 100m champion Sophie Hahn (coach: Leon Baptiste, club: Charnwood) will lead the charge in a number of paraathletics events which are part of the Müller Grand Prix Gateshead on Sunday 23rd May.
With the event now being staged in Britain instead of its original venue of Morocco, it has given domestic athletes more opportunity to compete and, for para-athletes, it comes ahead of the World Para Athletics European Championships in Bydgoszcz early next month and the Paralympic Games in Tokyo later this summer.
As well as Hahn, Libby Clegg (Joe McDonnell; Charnwood) and Kadeena Cox (Joe McDonnell; Sale Harriers Manchester) are also due to compete at Gateshead, plus athletes like world silver medallist Thomas Young (Joe McDonnell; Charnwood) and two-time Paralympic champion Richard Whitehead (Keith Antoine; Southwell).
Hahn faces a 100m field that includes double world champion Maria Lyle (Jamie Bowie; Team East Lothian) and 2017 world gold medallist, Sophie Kamlish (Rob Ellchuk; Bristol & West).
Clegg and her guide Chris Clarke are in a 200m event along with Cox, while Young runs the 100m and Whitehead the 200m in all-domestic line-ups.
There are a number of athletes from the British Athletics Futures Academy Programme too. They include Emmanuel Oyinbo-Coker (Joe McDonnell; Newham & Essex Beagles), Hetty Bartlett (Denis Costello; City of Norwich), Victoria Baskett (Katie Jones; University of Sheffield) and Kirsty Taylor (Joe McDonnell / Morgan Jones; DSW Para Academy).
Para sprinters Alexander Thomson (Chris Baillie; Victoria Park City of Glasgow), Columba Blango (Chris Zah; Shaftesbury Barnet), Ross Paterson (John Kinder / Alasdair Barker; Red Star) and John Bridge (Darrell Maynard; Cardiff) are also racing 200m in Gateshead.
Paula Dunn, Para Athletics Head Coach, said: “Once again, it is fantastic to have the opportunity to stage these high-quality races at the Müller Grand Prix Gateshead. They races will provide valuable preparation for some of our athletes before they head off to next month’s World Para Athletics European Championships and the Paralympic Games later in the summer.
Elsewhere in the Müller Grand Prix Gateshead as part of the Wanda Diamond League the women’s 100m features Dina Asher-Smith (John Blackie; Blackheath & Bromley), while Laura Muir (Andy Young; Dundee Hawkhill) tackles the 1500m. Elsewhere, Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen runs the men’s 1500m and Mondo Duplantis of Sweden and Sam Kendricks of the United States are in the pole vault during two hours of live coverage on BBC.