Double world champion Noah Lyles (USA) headlines the men’s 60m at the Müller Indoor Grand Prix Birmingham – a World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting – at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham on 19 February.
The 24-year-old Olympic 200m bronze medallist, the fastest man in the world over the distance in 2021 (19.52), is ranked fourth on the global all-time list (19.50). He ran a 60m personal best of 6.56 for victory in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on 6 February and will line up in Birmingham alongside Ronnie Baker (USA), the bronze medallist in the 60m at the 2018 World Indoor Championships and who was fifth over 100m at the Tokyo Olympics. Baker, who has a PB of 6.40 (2018), opened his season with third place at the Millrose Games on 29 January (6.54).
The Müller Indoor Grand Prix is the fifth meeting of the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Tour (Gold). There are seven Gold level meetings across the series which started with Karlsruhe on 28 January and which conclude in Madrid on 2 March.
Noah Lyles 6.56 👀 pic.twitter.com/5VZsGYmePH
— Travis Miller (@travismillerx13) February 6, 2022
A strong British contingent, led by reigning national indoor champion Andy Robertson, will join the US stars in Birmingham.
Robertson, 31, was fourth in the 2021 European Indoor Championships and won the 60m at the BoXX United Manchester World Indoor Tour meeting in his season-opener on 22 January in 6.60, inside British Athletics’ qualification standard for next month’s World Indoor Championships in Belgrade. He backed that up with victory for England in the DNA Indoor Match in Glasgow on 5 February (6.62). His lifetime best, dating back to 2016, is 6.54.
Lyles, who will compete at the Müller Indoor Grand Prix for the first time, said: “I’ve run on the US indoor circuit this year, and this meet will be the final one for me. I have seen a lot of fast times come from the Birmingham track, and I’m looking forward to running there.
“My main focus this year is on defending my titles at the World Athletics Championships this summer and continuing to get better. Every training session and every race is working towards achieving that goal, and this race fits right into that.”
Throughout the World Athletics Indoor Tour series, each athlete’s best three results will count towards their overall point score. The athlete with the most points in each scoring discipline at the end of the tour will be declared the winner and will be awarded a USD$10,000 bonus along with a wild card entry for the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade (March 2022).