Athletics Birmingham World Indoor Tour Final: Preview, schedule and how to watch live
The World Indoor Tour final takes place on Saturday 25 February, with Olympic medallists including Sherick Jackson, Dina Asher-Smith, Grant Holloway and Keely Hodgkinson all in action. Find out everything you need to know about the final event of the series below.
Athletics
Birmingham is preparing to host the final of the World Indoor Tour this Saturday (25 February) with a host of Olympic and world medallists readying themselves to compete in the athletics series finale.
After six meetings across the past two months, the final will see athletes battle for the position of series winners, with the victors also receiving **wildcard entries to the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships. **
Find out everything you need to know about the competition below.
When and where will the Birmingham World Indoor Tour Final take place?
The final of this year’s series takes place in the Utilita Arena in Birmingham on Saturday 25 February. The 15,800-capacity arena has hosted a number of high-profile events in the past, including the 2022 Commonwealth Games and the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships.
Saturday’s showpiece is the final meet in a seven-event gold tour series, with winners having the opportunity to secure wildcard entries for the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships.
The action begins at 14:30pm CET (13:30 local time) and ends at 16:50pm CET (15:50 local time).
Athletes to watch in the Birmingham World Indoor Tour Final
One of the most highly-anticipated events in the final is the women’s 60m, where world 200m champion Shericka Jackson of Jamaica will take on home favourite and 2019 World 200m champion Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita over the shorter sprint distance. Jackson became the second-fastest female 200m runner of all time - and fastest woman over the distance alive - when she crossed the line in 21.45 seconds at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon. She also won bronze in the 100m at Tokyo 2020.
While Asher-Smith has suffered with injuries over the past two years, her performance at last year’s Worlds, where she won the bronze medal in the 200m, will give her confidence in the 2023 season with a second World Championships in as many years scheduled to take place in Budapest in August. But keep an eye on Neita, who was recently crowned British 60m indoor champion following a personal best run of 7.05 seconds in Berlin the week before.
“I read my coach comparing me to a supercar and he is right - I am revved up and ready to go,” she said after her home championships victory. Could this be the year she establishes herself as one of the best in the world?
In the men’s 60m hurdles, world record holder Grant Holloway will once again aim high as he continues on his personal quest to become the “greatest” hurdler in history.
The 25-year-old enjoyed a stellar 2022 that included gold in the 110m hurdles at the World Championships and victory in the Indoor Worlds. He will face off against the current world no. 2 Daniel Roberts, with his fellow American looking to put a dent in Holloway’s aura of invincibility.
The Birmingham crowd will celebrate the presence of a strong British contingent who will be seeking victories on home soil, including World and Olympic 800m silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson (800m) and Olympic 1500m silver medallist Laura Muir, with the latter competing over the 1000m distance. Olympic 1500m bronze medallist Josh Kerr will also race in Birmingham.
Also keep a close eye on the women’s 3000m and a world record attempt by Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay, the reigning world 5000 champion and Olympic 5000m bronze medallist. She is in hot form coming into the event after registering the second-fastest mile time in history when she crossed the line in 4:16.16 recently in Torun.
Birmingham World Indoor Tour Final schedule
All times local time (CET -1)
- 13.47pm: Women’s pole vault
- 13.51: Men’s 60m
- 14:03: Women’s 60m heat 1
- 14.12: Women’s 60m heat 2
- 14.25: Women’s 3000m
- 14.39: Men’s long jump
- 14.43: Men’s 400m
- 14.51: Men’s 1500m
- 15.06: Men’s 60m hurdles
- 15.17: Women’s 60m final
- 15.30: Women’s 1000m
- 15.48: Women’s 800m
How to watch the Birmingham World Indoor Tour Final
If you are living in the UK, the Birmingham World Indoor Tour final will be shown live on BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website & app, and Red Button services from 14:30 CET on Saturday 25 February. It will also be available to stream in certain territories on the World Athletics YouTube channel.