Athletics: Helen Clitheroe and Jenny Meadows face Indoors dilemma

Published on 18/02/2013 00:00

FOUR of Britain’s individual medallists from 2011, including three champions, could be absent when the team for this year’s European Indoor Championships is announced tomorrow.

Britain won eight medals when the event was last staged in Paris, with Mo Farah and Helen Clitheroe claiming gold over 3,000 metres, Jenny Meadows belatedly being awarded the 800m title after Russian ‘winner’ Yevgeniya Zinurova was banned for doping and Dwain Chambers taking silver over 60m. However, next month’s event in Gothenburg is not on double Olympic champion Farah’s schedule, while Clitheroe and Meadows must decide whether to compete – if selected – and Chambers is relying on selection after injury ruled him out of this month’s trials and and he finished a distant fifth in his comeback race on Saturday.

Meadows was second in her first race since September 2011 in the British Athletics Grand Prix, but was inside the qualifying standard with a time of two minutes 2.86 seconds. “If I had run 2:00 I was going to say yes, 2:01 was I could do it or not, 2:02 was a definite no, but the way the race went and how badly I dealt with it, makes me feel like I should give it a shot,” said Meadows, who missed the entire 2012 season through injury. “But I never want to go to a championships if I don’t think I can win a medal so it’s difficult.”

Clitheroe also ran the qualifying time in winning the 3,000m at the National Indoor Arena, but the 39-year-old said: “Training is planned around the marathon. I’ll see what my coach says but I’m doing a half marathon next Sunday (in New Orleans with Farah) so now my focus is on that.”