Junior champions, Paralympic winners and senior British athletes come together at Sportcity for the 2019 Manchester International event on Wednesday 14th August, which will be live here on runjumpthrow.com from 1555 BST.
The competition will see head-to-heads between Great Britain Juniors, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the British Athletics League, with ‘All Star’ guest competitors like Jazmin Sawyers and Olympians from Canada and Botswana.
Young 800m stars Oliver Dustin and Isabelle Boffey compete in their first races since winning European under-20 gold, with Boffey facing recent Irish debutant Katie Kirk, European 4x400m champion Seren Bundy-Davies and much-improved England champion Kirsty Fraser.
The men’s mile should be hotly-contested, with three athletes who have all tasted European under-18 gold, Tom Keen (GB Juniors), George Mills (England) and Kane Elliott (Scotland) alongside Northern Ireland’s Conall Kirk.
Six-time England senior gold medallist Kimbely Baptiste competes at her third Manchester International, stepping up for England in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m. She faces good competition from World Junior finalist Hannah Brier and a host of other names. Commonwealth Games finalist and sprint hurdler Alicia Barrett is another who will hope to follow up her England victory on the same track, as she fights with Jess Hunter in the 100m hurdles.
Over the single-lap hurdles, there is a strong Canadian duo. Olympian Noelle Montcalm and 2018 Manchester International winner Kelsey Balkwill line up alongside good Brits Jessie Knight, Marcey Winter, Lauren Williams and Lauren Thompson. Commonwealth finalist Montcalm has a PB of 55.81 and is a Francophone Games medallist.
Her compatriot Micha Powell is a 51.97 400m runner and the daughter of long jump world record holder Mike Powell and three-time Olympian Rosey Edeh. Meanwhile, one of the guest entrants in the men’s 400m is Leaname Maotoanong, the 4x400m Commonwealth champion who was fifth at the Olympic Games.
Paralympic champions Jonnie Peacock and Sophie Hahn meanwhile are set to star in the men’s and women’s ambulant 100m, as they continue to build up to the World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai in November. Hahn, broke the T38 world record at the Loughborough International earlier this year and is aiming for a fourth successive world title.
Peacock looks to be in good form, running his third fastest time ever at this year’s Anniversary Games as he prepares for his T44 world title defence. Meanwhile, In the men’s 100m match, Commonwealth medallist Andy Robertson takes on British indoor silver medallist Adam Thomas of Scotland and Welsh champion Sam Gordon.
The field also sees a host of international athletes, particularly in the long jump where 6.86m jumper Jazmin Sawyers could have a gripping contest against young talent Alice Hopkins, with 8cm separating their bests this year. IPC World and European champion Stef Reid also features.
Dan Bramble is a favourite on the men’s side and he will be looking for the 8.17m world qualifying standard – as will those in the triple jump where 16.95 is the standard – including Nathan Fox, who is against European medallist Julian Reid and Commonwealth and African gold medallist Tosin Oke.
Young shot put talent and England U20 and U23 champion Lewis Byng will represent GB Juniors, while England U23 women’s shot put champion Divine Oladipo faces Welsh champion Adele Nicoll.
There is an impressive list of entries for the hammer, with Taylor Campbell, Osian Jones, and Craig Murch being fresh from new lifetime bests and up against Commonwealth man Chris Bennett. Greg Thompson – who has the World Championships standard – is alongside James Tomlinson and Nick Percy in the discus.
Full entries for the event can be viewed here, whilst live coverage of the event will be available from 4pm on Wednesday 14th August here. Those based in North America can view the action on RunnerSpace.com.
