Previews28 Feb 2018


Preview: men's 60m hurdles – IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018

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Jarret Eaton in the 60m hurdles at the IAAF World Indoor Championships Portland 2016 (© Getty Images)

In the absence of world, Olympic and 2016 world indoor champion Omar McLeod, fellow Jamaican Ronald Levy could likely step up to take his first major championship medal – perhaps even gold.

Third fastest in the world last summer over 110m hurdles with a 13.05 PB in Paris, the 25-year-old contested his first ever indoor competition last weekend in Glasgow and emerged victorious in 7.49, beating many of the athletes he’ll face in Birmingham.

World 110m hurdles record-holder Aries Merritt of the USA continues his recovery from a kidney transplant in 2015. The 2012 world indoor champion, now 32, set a season’s best of 7.46 at the US Indoor Championships at altitude and finished second to Levy in Glasgow in 7.58. He appears to be in his best shape since his golden season six years ago, when he also claimed the Olympic 110m hurdles title.

Jarret Eaton won the US Indoor Championships with a 7.43 personal best. Fourth at the World Indoor Championships two years ago, he has twice eclipsed his pre-2018 best, but his confidence may have been dented after crashing out of the 60m hurdles in Glasgow last weekend.

The host nation’s hopes rest with European indoor champion Andrew Pozzi, who finished fourth at the 2012 and 2014 World Indoor Championships. The 25-year-old has a season’s best of 7.58, which is 0.15 shy of the PB he set last year, but he heads to Birmingham off the back of his best outdoor season to date. 

Others hoping to make their mark include the Czech Republic’s 2011 European indoor champion Petr Svoboda, who has recorded 7.51 this winter but, like Eaton, also had a bad race in Glasgow, and two-time world indoor silver medallist Pascal Martinot-Lagarde of France, who has managed to salvage a season’s best of 7.54 after starting the year with some injury problems.

His teammate, Aurel Manga, won the French trial in a 7.53 PB, while Olympic finalist Milan Trajkovic of Cyprus and Ahmad Al-Moualed of Saudi Arabia have set national records of 7.55 and 7.57 respectively this season.

Nicola Sutton for the IAAF

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