Christine Ohuruogu on her way to winning the 400m (© Getty Images)
World 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu will compete at the Sainsbury’s Anniversary Games at London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park from 24-25 July, the 11th leg of the 2015 IAAF Diamond League.
The 2008 Olympic champion will take on the world’s best 400m runners at the three-day athletics spectacular, which will also include star names such as fellow Olympic medallists Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis-Hill and Greg Rutherford.
The British record-holder will defend the world title she won for the second time in Moscow in 2013 when she lines up at the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015 in August and believes that the Sainsbury’s Anniversary Games will provide an important test coming just four weeks out from the championships.
“The Sainsbury’s Anniversary Games will be quite instrumental for me,” said Ohuruogu. “I’ll be looking to try to get everything right a month out to Beijing. It will be a really good indication of where I am. If things aren’t quite right I’ll have time to fix them, so it’s an important race.”
She was victorious at the 2013 Sainsbury’s Anniversary Games with a thrilling 400m victory in a world-class time of 50.00, her fastest time outside of a major championship.
“London in 2013 was a real decider for me going into Moscow,” she added. “The event was really good, especially because I won. It was great to be back in the stadium and the crowd was just like it had been the year before. It’s great for me as an athlete to have that support. You’ve got tens of thousands of people watching, so it will be a really big nice send off into the World Championships.”
The Olympic Stadium is currently closed as work continues to transform it into the new national competition centre for British Athletics in 2016 and the permanent home of West Ham United FC. A major construction project is underway and on schedule for the stadium to host a number of world-class sporting events later this year including the Sainsbury's Anniversary Games and five matches of the Rugby World Cup.
British Athletics have secured the right to host athletics in the stadium for one month every year for the next 50 years from 2016.
Organisers for the IAAF
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2015 IAAF Diamond League calendar
Doha, QAT – 15 May
Shanghai, CHN – 17 May
Eugene, USA – 30 May
Rome, ITA – 4 June
Birmingham, GBR – 7 June
Oslo, NOR – 11 June
New York, USA – 13 June
Paris, FRA – 4 July
Lausanne, SUI – 9 July
Monaco, MON – 17 July
London, GBR – 24-25 July
Stockholm, SWE – 30 July
Zurich, SUI – 3 September
Brussels, BEL – 11 September
