Over 480 athletes have accepted their invitation to compete at the Müller British Athletics Championships 2020 at the Manchester Regional Arena from September 4-5 as athletics leads the way in welcoming Olympic and Paralympic sport back.
The first major outdoor athletics meeting of the year, and one of the first across Olympic and Paralympic sports in the UK since the government restrictions on competition were eased, will see 11 world champions compete in Manchester, including Paralympic champions Hannah Cockroft (club: Leeds; coach: Jenni Banks), Aled Davies (Cardiff; Ryan Spencer Jones) and Sophie Hahn (Charnwood; Leon Baptiste).
In a sign of the strength of the Championships, there will be a further 13 world medallists on show, among them Imani-Lara Lansiquot (Sutton & District; Steve Fudge), Sammi Kinghorn (Red Star), Shara Proctor (Birchfield Harriers; Rana Reider), Laviai Nielsen (Enfield & Haringey; Christine Bowmaker) and Thomas Young (Charnwood; Joe McDonnell).
Exactly 29 finalists from the World Athletics and World Para Athletics Championships in 2019 have confirmed their intention to compete, led by the in-form Jake Wightman (Edinburgh; Geoff Wightman), Laura Weightman (Morpeth; Steve Cram) and Holly Bradshaw (Blackburn; Scott Simpson) as well as Neil Gourley (Giffnock North; Mark Rowland), Abigail Irozuru (Sale Harriers; self), Sophie McKinna (Great Yarmouth; Mike Winch) and Zak Seddon (Bracknell; Jeff Seddon).
Among those numbers are 14 European (non-disability) champions while there will be 21 British champions from 2019 on show in Manchester, bidding for back-to-back titles, and 18 athletes who won gold at the SPAR British Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow back in February.
In addition, other in-form UK leaders alongside Wightman and Weightman – Jessie Knight (Windsor Slough Eton Hounslow; Marina Armstrong) (400m hurdles & 400m hurdles), Max Burgin (Halifax; Ian / Brian Burgin) (800m), Marc Scott (Cambridge & Coleridge; Jerry Schumacher) (5000m) and Lawrence Okoye (Croydon) (discus) – have all confirmed to further highlight the level of competition in just over a week.
Returning to the Manchester Regional Arena for the first time since it acted as host between 2004 and 2007, and the first meet at the venue since its refurbishment earlier this year, the Müller British Athletics Championships will hold four para events for the first time – the men’s and women’s ambulant 100m and the men’s and women’s wheelchair – welcoming a record number of para athlete entries across the field.
Scheduled to start under the lights of the Manchester Regional Arena on Friday 4 September, the Championships will be broadcast live on BBC2 from 1800-2100 before continuing during the day on Saturday 5 September, live on BBC1 from 1315-1630.
Cherry Alexander, Major Events Director at British Athletics, said: “With almost a week to go until the Müller British Athletics Championships, excitement is really starting to build. We have had a fantastic response from athletes wishing to compete in Manchester as shown by the number of entries and also by the number of Paralympic champions and world and European medallists and finalists who have accepted their invites.
“We are proud to welcome a record-breaking number of para athletes and are continuing to work extremely hard behind the scenes to ensure the safest possible competition environment for athletes, coaches, officials, volunteers and staff. We can’t wait for the Championships to arrive and for our first champions to be crowned on Friday next week.”
The Müller British Athletics Championships will be broadcast live on Friday night on BBC2, 1800-2100 and Saturday afternoon on BBC1, 1315-1630. For events outside BBC airtime, clips and full races will be posted across the British Athletics website and social media channels.
Entry lists can be found here.
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