Event will take place behind-closed-doors on February 20-21

Next year’s British Athletics Indoor Championships will be held at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow on February 20-21, it has been confirmed.

As reported by AW in October, the governing body’s chief executive Joanna Coates stated that the indoor championships would be going ahead in 2021 thanks largely to a £394,000 grant from the UK Sport business continuity fund.

“We were very fortunate,” Coates said at the time. “We bid into the UK Sport business continuity fund and we were successful. We don’t know about the indoor grand prix yet, but certainly our indoor trials will definitely take place.”

The event, which was held in Glasgow in February this year, is currently set to act as a trial for the European Indoor Championships, in Torun, Poland, scheduled for March 5-7 and also the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, from March 19-21.

“The choice of venue was carefully considered to ensure that a Covid-19 safe event could be delivered in conjunction with an environment for optimum athlete performance,” said British Athletics.

Under current restrictions, the event will be held behind-closed-doors and live streamed online, with more information on the format and shape of the competition to be announced “as soon as practically possible”.

Coates said: “As we look ahead to 2021, it is fantastic that we can confirm Glasgow as the host of the British Athletics Indoor Championships once again. The Emirates Arena has hosted world-class athletics for several years, so we are thrilled to be working with the great team there to deliver this prestigious fixture in the calendar.

“We are again sorry that whilst at present we cannot confirm a return to the arena for spectators, we will continue to monitor the government guidelines in Scotland as we build up to the event.

“Once again, my thanks go to the Emirates Arena and Glasgow Life who we are collaborating with to deliver another high-quality sporting event, and to UK Sport for their support from the Continuity Fund, which has assisted in supporting the staging of this event.”