Run, jump, throw. Faster, higher, further. Every discipline of athletics will be on show when the 33rd European Athletics Indoor Championships gets into full swing today following a flurry of qualifying rounds and the event’s Opening Ceremony on Thursday.
And that’s not just because the pentathlon starts and finishes at the 02 Arena. In fact, the women’s multi-event contest is just one of five events with gold medals up for grabs.
Both sprint hurdles will come to a conclusion on Friday after going through three rounds apiece, while the men’s long jump and shot contests will also be decided in the afternoon.
A 19-year-old called Jessica Ennis finished sixth in the pentathlon when these championships were held in Birmingham back in 2007. But it will be another young Briton who could be the centre of attention in the Czech capital as Katarina Johnson-Thompson bids for her first senior title on the first full day of action at the 02 Arena.
The 22-year-old European under-23 champion has broken British high and long jump records so far this season and has been widely tipped for pentathlon gold at Prague 2015.
But she’ll have to overcome Antoinette Nana Djimou, the 29-year-old French multi-eventer, who has been undefeated at European indoor and outdoor championships for four years, plus this year’s world leader Yana Maksimava of Belarus, the silver medallist from Gothenburg two years ago.
In fact, it could be a medal-rich afternoon for Belarussia’s women as Alina Talay is the one to watch in the 60m hurdles. Another Gothenburg silver medallist, she is almost a tenth of a second quicker than any of her opponents this year.
France have more medal hopes in the men’s event where Dimitri Bascou leads the rankings from Wilhem Belocian with Pascal Martinot-Lagarde seeking redemption after a disapponting bronze at the European outdoor Championships in Zürich last summer.
Team captain Lawrence Clarke is the Briton hoping to upset the French train in that event.
There’s already been one upset Frenchman at these championships after Kafetien Gomis failed to make it through the long jump qualifiers yesterday. The world leader leapt 8.18m earlier this year but his one valid jump on Thursday was enough only for 14th leaving Swedish pair Michel Tornéus and Andreas Otterling as the likely gold medal contenders.
David Storl has won two world and two European titles outdoors but never an indoor crown, a fact that could well change today when the German is expected to depose Serbia’s Asmir Kolasinac as men’s shot champion after easing into the final with a thumping 21.23m effort yesterday.
Action will be no less frenetic in the heats and rounds where Czech favourite Pavel Maslák begins his defence of a 400m title he expects to win with ease; Dutch star Sifan Hassan takes her first steps towards a possible distance double in the first round of the women’s 3000m; and world record holder Renaud Lavillenie makes his first appearance of the championships in the pole vault qualifiers.