Several of the world’s top track and field athletes will be in action at the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Sopot and you can follow their progress on BBC Sport and British Eurosport.
With no global outdoor major championships to be staged this year, the World Indoors is one of the most important events on the 2014 athletics calendar and already this winter there have been some spectacular indoor performances to get the appetite whetted for the three days of action.
There will be 26 sets of medals on offer in Sopot and among the 600 athletes set to take part from 143 countries include many of gold medalists from the outdoor World Championships held in Moscow last August.
The likes of Valerie Adams, Mohammed Aman, Abeba Aregawi, Ashton Eaton, Hanna Melnychenko, Aleksandr Menkov, Christine Ohuruogu and David Storl will all be bidding to add an indoor world title to their list of accolades.
Sopot, a seaside town located on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, will stage one of the largest World Indoor Championships in the 29-year history of the event, which stretches back to 1985 when what was then called the World Indoor Games had what now seems a modest 319 athletes from 69 nations competing.
Great Britain’s total of nine medals at the previous World Indoors in Turkey two years ago was their best ever at the event and their 34-strong team will be hoping for a similarly impressive haul once again.
Eilidh Child, who won 4x400m gold at last year’s European Indoor Championships in Sweden, will lead the British team as captain in Sopot, however some of GB’s biggest hopes for medals have been forced to withdraw ahead of the event.
James Dasaolu has pulled out of the 60m with a hamstring tear he suffered while winning the final of the men’s 60m at the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix.
Eilish McColgan, who was selected to compete in the 3000m, has also pulled out having not returned to full fitness following a recent minor illness.
There is further disappointment with the news that Katarina Johnson-Thompson will not be competing in the pentathlon after missing qualifying through illness.
However, the 21-year-old will be taking part in the long jump, an event in which she recently achieved a new personal best of 6.75m.
Britain’s hopes will fall on the shoulders of Tiffany Porter in the 60m hurdles, pole vaulters Holly Bleasdale and Luke Cutts, 800m runner Laura Muir and the women’s 4x400m team, who set a world-best three minutes 28.76 seconds to beat the United States and win gold in 2012.
In the event’s history it has been the United States that have usually dominated the medals table.
This was the case again in 2012 as they picked up an impressive ten gold medals across the men’s and women’s events, which was far superior to any other country.
Among the international stars set to compete in Sopot include Ethiopian middle distance runner Genzebe Dibaba, who recently set a new world indoor record.
Shortly before the event, Russia’s London 2012 Olympic high jump champion Ivan Ukhov continued his 2014 unbeaten winning streak and leapt 2.42m to equal the second best indoor mark ever.
Dibaba and Ukhov will both be in action in Sopot’s ERGO Arena and only an ill-timed heel injury has prevented French pole vaulter Renaud Lavillenie from defending the global title he won two years ago in Istanbul.
BBC Sport brings extensive coverage of the 2014 World Indoor Athletics Championships from Sopot, Poland, across BBC TV, online and mobile devices.
The majority of the BBC’s live coverage of all three days will be shown on BBC Two and BBC Two HD, with additional action available via BBC Red Button.
Phil Jones will present the BBC’s TV coverage from Sopot across the weekend where he will be joined by regular analysts Colin Jackson, Denise Lewis and Paula Radcliffe.
Steve Cram and Paul Dickenson will lead the commentary team alongside the trio inside the arena.
The BBC Sport website will also provide access to live streaming of the event, plus text commentaries, news, reports, schedules, videos, as well as highlights of each day’s action.
All of BBC Two’s live broadcasts will be made available shortly afterwards on BBC iPlayer.
British Eurosport will also screen live coverage of all three days from Sopot with commentary from Tim Hutchings and Chris Dennis.
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The highlights of the first day of competition are the pentathlon and the 400m and 800m heats for both men and women.
DAY 1: Evening Session LIVE: 5.00pm-7.00pm BBC Red Button / 7.00pm-8.30pm BBC Two LIVE: 5.30pm-8.45pm British EurosportThe evening programme includes the conclusion of the pentathlon.
There’s also action from the semi-finals of the men’s and women’s 400m, plus the final of the men’s shot put.
Saturday 8th March DAY 2: Morning Session LIVE: 9.00am-11.45am BBC Two LIVE: 9.00am-11.30am British Eurosport 2The morning session is all about qualification, with heats in several events including 4x400m relays and 60m hurdles.
Among the world-class field expected to feature across the morning are world and European indoor sprint hurdles champion Sergey Shubenkov, European triple jump champion Daniele Greco and women’s 60m silver medallist Murielle Ahoure.
DAY 2: Evening Session LIVE: 5.10pm-8.15pm BBC Two LIVE: 5.00pm-8.15pm British EurosportThe afternoon session sees champions crowned in several events, including men’s pole vault, women’s triple jump and high jump, plus the men’s 400m and 1500m.
Sunday 9th March DAY 3: Day Session LIVE: 2.00pm-6.00pm BBC Two LIVE: 3.00pm-6.00pm British EurosportSunday’s single session crowns 12 different world champions across the events, including the women’s 60m and men’s 3,000m titles.
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