MONTE-CARLO, CMC – Track and field’s world governing body announced yesterday that the mid-March World Indoor Championship in Qatar is set to be the biggest in its history.
A total of 1,134 athletes and officials from 150 countries having been entered for the March 12-14 event at the Aspire Dome in Doha and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) says these numbers surpass the previous best from Valencia in Spain two years ago.
Valencia 2008 had 147 participating countries.
Following the March 1 deadline for entries, the numbers are showing 374 male athletes, 283 female athletes and 477 officials attending the three-day meet.
Powerhouse Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago are among the Caribbean teams listed and the Jamaica squad is headed by multiple Olympic and World champion Veronica Campbell-Brown, a World Indoor first-timer.
“Doha will represent my first ever appearance at an IAAF World Indoor Championships and I look forward to the experience,” said Campbell-Brown, who will contest the 60-metre sprint.
“I have competed sparingly indoors with my last race being on February 26th in New York. I ran 7.14 so now it is finishing touches then off to the gulf region,” she said.
The Russian pair of pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva and Tatyana Kotova in the long jump, will be among the most decorated athletes at the meet with three World Indoor gold medals each.
Ethiopia’s Meseret Defar will go for a fourth World Indoor gold, in the 3,000 metres.
