Christian Olsson successfully defending his European title at home in Gothenburg (© Getty Images)
26 January 2007A trio of world class Swedes top the bill at the UK’s traditional curtain-raiser to the international indoor season this Saturday (27).
Christian Olsson, Susanna Kallur and Kajsa Bergqvist lead Sweden against USA, Germany, Great Britain and a Commonwealth Select squad at the Norwich Union International at Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, a fixture that’s been dominated in recent years by Russia.
The absence of the Russians this time perhaps robs the event of some of its overall quality, but nevertheless the line-ups are littered with international athletes keen to get 2007 off to a flying start.
Olsson returns to indoor action
None more so than Olsson who, after his gentle opener in the ‘short run-up’ triple jump meeting in Gothenburg last week, will be hoping to put a marker down ahead of the European Indoor championships in Birmingham in early March.
This is the European champion’s first season of winter competition for three years following a succession of operations to remedy the heel injury he sustained when winning the 2004 Olympic gold. The 16.07m he posted in Gothenburg on 16 January was his first indoor mark since he equalled the world record of 17.83m to win the World indoor title in Budapest in 2004.
He’s unlikely to reach those sorts of lengths in Glasgow, although Olsson indicated recently that he’s “laid down a base for some really good results” and clearly has his sights set on regaining the World outdoor title in Osaka this summer.
“It was heartening last year to recover from my injury so well and regain the world number one slot,” he said. “The Norwich Union International will be the start of another big year for me, with both European indoor and World outdoor titles to go for. With a year’s jumping now behind me I think I’m ready to target 18m both indoors and outdoors.”
Olsson will have some tough competition in Glasgow, however, with Britain’s Commonwealth champion Phillips Idowu jumping for the hosts, Leevan Sands of the Bahamas, a former World bronze medallist, going for the Commonwealth side, and USA’s Kenta Bell also in the field.
Kallur eager to continue momentum
Like Olsson, Kallur begins 2007 still basking in the yellow-and-blue glow of her European championships victory last summer when she brought a stadium-full of ecstatic home fans to their feet. The 25-year-old performed brilliantly under immense pressure to win the 100m Hurdles title in Gothenburg and this winter plans to add the European indoor gold to that outdoor crown.
“Last year was just a dream for me,” she said. “To win a gold medal in my own country was just an amazing experience. But I have to take things forward from that and Glasgow is the start of another big year.
“Possibly now there will be a bit more pressure on me after that win in Gothenburg, but that is a situation I just have to get used to.”
The affable Swede is certainly used to Kelvin Hall, having made a winning start to her season here for the last five years. There seems little doubt that she will do so again on Saturday when she will be the class athlete in the field. Her main challenge, if any, could come from Britain’s Sarah Claxton, competing for the Commonwealth, or USA’s Lolo Jones. British multi-eventer Kelly Sotherton will also race as a guest.
Bergqvist’s debut
Sotherton goes in the High Jump too, an event in which Bergqvist will aim to break the stadium record of 2.01m she set last year. The Swede went on from that performance to leap a World indoor record of 2.08m the following week in Arnstadt.
Unlike her two compatriots, however, the 30-year-old’s hunger for success in 2007 is fuelled by the heartache she suffered when finishing ‘only’ third at the European championships in Gothenburg.
“I can’t wait to get my 2007 season underway with another outing in Glasgow,” said Bergqvist. “I feel I have something to prove after the disappointment of failing to win the gold medal in Gothenburg.
“It is important to start the season with a bang at the Kelvin Hall. I set a stadium record here last year and see no reason why I can’t better it this time around.”
With those three in the squad, and the likes of Johan Wissman in the men’s 200m, Robert Kronberg in the men’s 60m hurdles and Alhaji Jeng in the men’s Pole Vault, Sweden could start as favourites for the team title.
Lagat v. Rotich in the 1500m
The USA squad contains few of their really big stars and, in the absence of Allen Johnson – originally announced for the 60m Hurdles – only Bernard Lagat is a headline name. The two-time Olympic silver medallist will face his former Kenyan team-mate Laban Rotich in the 1500m, in the first of two planned outings for the American in the UK this winter.
Having been forced to sit out the 2005 World Championships after switching allegiances from Kenya to USA, Lagat is already setting his sights on a World medal in Osaka. “This is a major year for me with the World Championships in Japan in August – an event I was not able to compete at last time around. So I feel I have something to prove,” he said.
The other notable name in the USA team is pole vaulter Toby Stevenson. The Olympic silver medallist will face stiff competition from Australia’s Paul Burgess, the man who beat him to $50,000 on countback in last September’s World Athletics Final. Burgess will jump for the Commonwealth side, while Britain’s Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Steve Lewis in also in the line-up.
First outing in nearly a year for Gardener
Not surprisingly, a host of Britons will be using the Glasgow fixture to launch their bids for a spot in Britain’s European indoor championships team, not least sprinter Jason Gardener who’s aim this winter is to become the first British athlete to win four consecutive European indoor titles.
A 60m specialist, Gardener has been a victor in Kelvin Hall every time he has raced there although this will be a big test of fitness for the 31-year-old as it’s his first international meeting since he withdrew from the Commonwealth Games with a back injury last March. He will face two other strong Britons in Mark Lewis Francis, running for the Commonwealth, and his own training partner, 20-year-old Craig Pickering, whose 6.56 at the brand new Lee Valley track in north London last Saturday makes him the world’s fastest over 60m so far this year.
Other Britons on show include former World indoor champion Daniel Caines, who returns from yet another injury set-back to take on Jamaica’s Davian Clarke in the 400m; Andy Turner, who returns to hurdling action against Kronberg, the man he beat to the European bronze last summer; and British record holder Chris Tomlinson, who kicks off his season in the Long Jump against Germany’s Nils Winter.
On the women’s side, Joice Maduaka will hope to pick up where she left off in 2006, when she narrowly missed a 100m medal in Gothenburg and anchored Britain’s 4x100m squad to European silver. Maduaka will face Kallur in the 60m, the Swede testing herself in the flat sprint less than 40 minutes after the hurdles.
Matthew Brown for the IAAF
