Christine Ohuruogu in a very wet Gateshead (© Getty Images)
Great Britain's World and Olympic 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu has set her sights on returning to the North East for the Aviva British Grand Prix fresh from success at the IAAF World Championships.
The 25-year-old is hoping to retain the World title she won in Osaka two years ago and add to her growing collection of major international medals with victory at the World Championships in Berlin, which start this weekend.
After the World Championships, Ohuruogu heads to the Gateshead International Stadium to race at the Aviva British Grand Prix, which takes place on 31 August.
Last year Ohuruogu followed up her superb win at the Olympics in Beijing with victory at the Gateshead track, and a chance to show off her prized gold medal to the crowds. This year she’s aiming for a repeat performance.
With a season’s best of 51.14seconds over the one-lap sprint, Ohuruogu may not be the race favourite in Germany - America’s Olympic 400m bronze medallist Sanya Richards has already clocked five sub-50 second times this summer – but the London-born athlete, who also won Commonwealth gold in 2006, has a knack of performing on the big stage and peaking when it counts.
After missing the Aviva London Grand Prix as a precaution to aid her recovery from a hamstring injury, she now hopes to be back at her best when she takes to the track at Berlin’s Olympic stadium next week, in the individual 400m, then again when she teams up with local star Victoria Barr as part of the Aviva Great Britain & Northern Ireland 4x400m relay team.
And the chance to enjoy another victory parade in front of the Gateshead crowds is something Ohuruogu is really looking forward to. Speaking from the Aviva GB & NI Team's World Championships preparation camp in Portugal, she said:
“It would mean everything to come back from Berlin with another medal after the success I have had in the past. I am really looking forward to coming back to the UK after Berlin, hopefully with a medal.
“I think the Gateshead fans can expect a really good meeting up there because there are going to be a lot of high quality athletes there and it will be a really good field.
“I love competing in Gateshead partly because of the quality of the field they always have there and also just because it is always a good atmosphere – it’s always good to compete in front of a home crowd and hopefully I will have a medal again.”
Kate McCall (organisers) for the IAAF
The 25-year-old is hoping to retain the World title she won in Osaka two years ago and add to her growing collection of major international medals with victory at the World Championships in Berlin, which start this weekend.
After the World Championships, Ohuruogu heads to the Gateshead International Stadium to race at the Aviva British Grand Prix, which takes place on 31 August.
Last year Ohuruogu followed up her superb win at the Olympics in Beijing with victory at the Gateshead track, and a chance to show off her prized gold medal to the crowds. This year she’s aiming for a repeat performance.
With a season’s best of 51.14seconds over the one-lap sprint, Ohuruogu may not be the race favourite in Germany - America’s Olympic 400m bronze medallist Sanya Richards has already clocked five sub-50 second times this summer – but the London-born athlete, who also won Commonwealth gold in 2006, has a knack of performing on the big stage and peaking when it counts.
After missing the Aviva London Grand Prix as a precaution to aid her recovery from a hamstring injury, she now hopes to be back at her best when she takes to the track at Berlin’s Olympic stadium next week, in the individual 400m, then again when she teams up with local star Victoria Barr as part of the Aviva Great Britain & Northern Ireland 4x400m relay team.
And the chance to enjoy another victory parade in front of the Gateshead crowds is something Ohuruogu is really looking forward to. Speaking from the Aviva GB & NI Team's World Championships preparation camp in Portugal, she said:
“It would mean everything to come back from Berlin with another medal after the success I have had in the past. I am really looking forward to coming back to the UK after Berlin, hopefully with a medal.
“I think the Gateshead fans can expect a really good meeting up there because there are going to be a lot of high quality athletes there and it will be a really good field.
“I love competing in Gateshead partly because of the quality of the field they always have there and also just because it is always a good atmosphere – it’s always good to compete in front of a home crowd and hopefully I will have a medal again.”
Kate McCall (organisers) for the IAAF