Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake after the 4x100m relay at the IAAF World Championships London 2017 (© Getty Images)
World 4x100m relay champion Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake will be among the headliners in the 60m at the Müller Indoor Grand Prix Glasgow Sunday 25 February, the sixth stop on the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Tour.
Blake, who boasts outdoor lifetime bests of 9.99 and 19.95 in the 100m and 200m, is the first name announced for the men’s 60m, a race expected to be the final high-powered short dash clash ahead of the IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018, which get underway the following weekend.
The meeting returns to Scotland having been held in Glasgow for the first time in 2016 as the city alternates hosting with Birmingham up to 2020.
“I’m really excited to compete in Glasgow for the first time - after the whirlwind of London 2017 I’m ready to hit the ground running in 2018,” Mitchell-Blake said. ““Scotland is making waves with its athletes and I’m sure they’ll go crazy for all the British athletes competing at the Grand Prix.”
Mitchell-Blake, 23, has a 6.65 personal best in the 60m, set in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 2016, a performance he equalled twice last winter. He finished second over 200m at both the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships in 2017, and fourth at the World Championships in London.
As the last meeting on the 2018 World Indoor Tour, Glasgow will present the final opportunity for athletes who haven’t otherwise qualified to receive wild card entry to the World Indoor Championships.
“Nethaneel’s performances over the past two years stand him out as a phenomenal talent in a time of real excitement for British sprinting, so for the people of Scotland to be able to see him compete in Glasgow for the very first time will make for a great experience,” said British Athletics’ Major Event Director Cherry Alexander, winner of the Women in Athletics Award last month at the IAAF Athletics Awards 2017.
“The images of Nethaneel bringing home world 4x100m gold for Great Britain & Northern Ireland will become iconic in the years to come, and I’m sure that his presence in Glasgow will quite rightly generate a lot of excitement.”
Organisers for the IAAF
