Keely Hodgkinson to lead Team GB charge at World Indoors

The 19-year-old from Leigh, who is coached by Wigan’s Trevor Painter and his wife Jenny Meadows, is part of a 33-strong squad announced by British Athletics.

Hodgkinson joins 2018 world indoor 60m hurdles champion Andrew Pozzi, who secured his place with victory at last weekend's UK Indoor Championships in Birmingham, and British long jump champion Lorraine Ugen in the squad.

Hodgkinson, who smashed Kelly Holmes' national record to take 800m silver at last summer's Tokyo Olympics, finished second to Jessie Knight in the women's 400m in Birmingham after using the event to build up speed.

Knight has also been selected for the championships in Belgrade which take place between March 18 and March 20.

Ed Faulds, who recently broke the 400m European under-20 record with a time of 46.16 seconds, is among eight athletes set to make their senior debuts.

Marc Scott, who set a new European indoor 5,000m record earlier this year, is also included in the team.

Olympic head coach Christian Malcolm said: "We are pleased to have selected 33 athletes, so far, to represent the country at the World Athletics Indoor Championships.

"Those called-up have earned their vest and I know they'll all represent their country with pride in Belgrade next month.

"We have a number of athletes who have really stepped up during this indoor season, setting a number of PBs and SBs, so it'll be exciting to see how they translate that into the championship environment.

"It's also great to see a number of athletes achieving their first senior vest too, so congratulations to the eight athletes who are gaining theirs for the first time."

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