Wigan Harriers duo on the big athletics stage

Wigan Harriers Harry Coppell and Emily Borthwick are on the athletic big stage tomorrow.
Emily Borthwick and Harry CoppellEmily Borthwick and Harry Coppell
Emily Borthwick and Harry Coppell

The couple are both competing at the Gateshead Grand Prix, which is the first Diamond League event of the season and attracts the world's greatest athletes.

Coppell, 24, is the British record holder in the pole vault , having cleared 5.85m last year to win the British title.

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He will be looking to underline his Olympic credentials when he faces world record-holder Mondo Duplantis and two-time world champion Sam Kendricks.

Coppell missed the indoor season but Borthwick took part, and earned her first senior international call-up. She finished eighth in the high jump at the European Indoor Championships and is hoping for another impressive show ahead of a return to the GB team the following week.

Meanwhile, 19-year-old Keely Hodgkinson won the women's 800m at the Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava this week..

The European Indoor champion ran 1:58:89 for a personal best and her first time under two minutes outdoors. It was also a British under-20 record for the Leigh Harrier, who is coached by Wigan s Trevor Painter and mentored by Jenny Meadows.