ONES TO WATCH |
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Greg Rutherford |
Mo Farah |
David Rudisha |
Dafne Schippers |
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After his victory on ‘ Super Saturday ’ at London 2012 , Rutherford has completed a ‘ grand slam ’ of major titles and confirmed his status as world No . 1 . In 2014 he set a British record of 8.51m before winning the Commonwealth crown in Glasgow and European gold in Zurich . Then last year in Beijing he took the world title with a leap of 8.41m in addition to winning the Diamond League long jump .
Now , after starting Olympic year with a UK indoor record of 8.26m in Albuquerque , the 29-year-old has continued to enjoy his bestever start to a season and defied cold , gusty conditions to win at the Manchester City Games with 8.20m last month .
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Mo Farah has suffered a couple of defeats this year – over cross country in Edinburgh in January and half-marathon in Cardiff in March – but he was in winning form over 3000m at the Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix in February and he tackles the same distance this weekend in Birmingham .
Recent years have seen the Briton notch up an incredible tally of major titles . Unbeaten in world and Olympic 5000m and 10,000m finals since 2012 means he has collected a ‘ triple double ’ at global championships courtesy of gold medals in London , Moscow and Beijing .
Of course in August he will be tackling the same distances again and his build up continues at the Alexander Stadium with Dave Moorcroft ’ s UK outdoor record of 7:32.79 a natural target if the pace is fast .
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After a relatively lean spell in 2013 and 2014 due to injury , the world 800m record-holder was back to his best in 2015 with victory in the World Championships in Beijing . It bodes well for a successful defence of his Olympic title in Rio this summer .
At the London Games three years ago he front-ran a time of 1:40.91 to become the first man in history to break the 1:41 barrier as he won the Olympic title – a run that many felt was the performance of the Games .
Athletics talent runs in his family , too , as his father won silver for Kenya as part of the 4x400m squad at the 1968 Olympics and he is coached by the famous Iten-based Irishman Brother Colm O ’ Connell .
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If Dafne Schippers had stuck with combined events she would have been a gold medal contender in the heptathlon in Rio . But she switched to sprints full-time in 2015 with spectacular results .
At last year ’ s World Championships in Beijing the 23-year-old finished close behind Shelly-Ann Fraser- Pryce in the 100m before winning the 200m in 21.63 – the fastest at sea level since Florence Griffith- Joyner in 1988 .
A few days later she defeated world 400m champion Allyson Felix in a 200m match-up in Brussels . It has led to considerable fame in her home country , with a rescued seal and a road in Utrecht named after her and now , in Olympic year , she hopes to follow in the footsteps of original flying Dutchwoman , Fanny Blankers-Koen , winner of four golds at the 1948 Olympics .
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