Scottish Athletics chief Stephen Maguire has backed Pitreavie’s Eilidh Child to bounce back from losing her UK indoor title on Sunday by making an impression at the World Championships next month.
The European silver medallist’s inconsistent start to 2014 continued when she was pushed into fourth place in the 400 metres in Sheffield.
Maguire said: “It might seem strange to say it of Eilidh in a 400m but she’ll ask herself: ‘Did I get that right?’
“I’m sure, by her own admission; she probably didn’t get her run right. But she’ll be fine once the disappointment disappears. She’s her own harshest critic anyway. She made a tactical mistake. She needed to go out and dominate and for whatever reason she didn’t do that.”
Child faces another formidable task this Saturday when she runs against Natasha Hastings (USA), Kalise Spencer (Jamaica), and newly-crowned UK champion Margaret Adeoye at the Birmingham Grand Prix.
Fresh from her UK 800m title in Sheffield last weekend Laura Muir (Dundee Hawkhill) lines up in an elite 1,500m field containing Elena Korobkina (Russia), Hellen Obiri (Kenya), Tizita Bogale (Ethiopia) as well as GB athlete Hannah England, Alison Leonard and Jemma Simpson.
World Indoor 1,500m gold medallist Genzebe Dibaba, who took an astonishing six seconds off the world record in the 3,000m last week in Stockholm, will be aiming for her third world record in 14 days.
The Ethiopian will contest the two miles looking to better the 9:06.26 set by two-time Olympic 5,000m champion Meseret Defar in 2009.
Eilish McColgan (Dundee Hawkhill) heads the UK opposition having just returned from altitude training in Kenya alongside newly-crowned 3,000m British champion Charlene Thomas (Wakefield).
British 60m champion James Dasaolu the second fastest man in the world this year faces a world-class field in the 60m.
The European Indoor 60m silver medallist takes on 2003 world champion Kim Collins (St Kitts & Nevis), 2010 World Indoor 60m silver medallist Mike Rodgers (USA), four-time global medallist Nesta Carter (Jamaica), 2011 200m world bronze medallist Christophe Lemaitre (France), Jimmy Vicaut (France) and world indoor bronze medallist Dwain Chambers.
Olympic gold medallist Greg Rutherford will make his first appearance of the 2014 season and will go up against a formidable line-up in the long jump that includes the three medallists from the 2013 World Championships in Moscow Russia’s Aleksandr Menkov, Holland’s Ignisious Gaisah and Mexico’s Luis Rivera.
British pole vault record holder Holly Bleasdale wrapped up her fourth successive British title last Saturday. clearing a then world-leading height of 4.73m and will be looking to continue her strong start to 2014 by taking the scalp of Olympic silver medallist Yarisley Silva.
The Cardiff-based athlete will be keen to impress ahead of the World Indoor Championships, where she will look to go better than her bronze medal finish in 2011.