Feast of fast times expected as Saucony British Milers’ Club Grand Prix hits the north London venue

Kyle Langford will be looking to continue his return to peak form when he lines up for the men’s A 800m race for the third Saucony British Milers’ Club Grand Prix at Watford on Saturday (June 12).

The 25-year-old was fourth in the 2017 World Championships and took silver at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. After clocking a season’s best 1:46.32 at the Sportcity Grand Prix in Manchester recently, he said he feels he is starting to find his feet again.

Since then Langford has notched up a personal best of 47.69 over 400m at the Worthing Track Night and a solid 1:47.60 in Hengelo but his sights will certainly be set on a sub-1:46 with the ultimate aim of beating the Olympic Games qualifying standard of 1:45.20.

With a lifetime best of 1:44.83, set just barely a year ago in Monaco, he is more than capable of doing that if the conditions are right.

A competitive field will push him – in particular Alex Botterill, who ran a PB of 1:46.52 in Germany last month to move him up to 11^th in the 2021 UK rankings.

One of his rivals for a place in the team for the European Under-23 Championships in Tallinn will be Ben Pattison, who will be seeing to improve upon his season’s best of 1:46.77 and dip under 1:46 for the first time.

Rocco Zaman-Browne is another top under-23 athlete entered while Henry Johnson, who is third in the UK under-20 rankings this year, is promoted to the A race after clocking a PB of 1:48.72 in the B race at Sportcity.

The women’s 800m also looks like it will serve up a very competitive race. Leading the way is the latest British sub two-minute runner, Ellie Baker, who broke that barrier for the first time in France last week, clocking 1:59.54 in Montreuil.

Baker followed up that with a solid 2:01.02 for third place in Hengelo last weekend to show she is operating at a much higher level this season already so that will make her tough to beat.

Lining up against her will be Sportcity winner Jenny Selman, who finished strongly that night with a PB of 2:02.16 and afterwards spoke of now going sub 2:02 at Watford if everything falls into place.

Shelayna Oskan-Clarke, Khahisa Mhlanga, Isobel Ives and Jenna Bromell are also entered.

The men’s 1500m sees a wealth of Britain’s top under 23 runners lining up against each other with Remi Adebiyi and Joshua Lay seeking to dip under 3:40 for the first time.

The hugely improved John Howorth, who is benefiting from working with James Thie in Cardiff, will also look to continue his improvement having clocked PBs of 3:44.53 and 3:41.13 in BMC races this season.

Top British junior Kane Elliott, who set a BMC under-20 record with 3:40.65 at Sportcity, is also entered, as is 19-year-old Thomas Keen, who is targeting a sub 3:40.

Also strong contenders will be Sportcity winner Max Wharton, who made quite a breakthrough that night with his PB of 3:39.68, James McMurray and Ireland’s John Travers.

Fastest athlete in the women’s 1500m field is Holly Archer, who returns to the BMC circuit after posting super consistent times of 4:07.20 (PB), 4:07.22 and 4:08.81 in America.

Jess Judd, who ran her season’s best of 4:07.92 when winning the Grand Prix at Sportcity, is also entered even though only last weekend she ran a PB and Olympic qualifying time of 31:20.96 to finish third in the Müller British Athletics 10,000m Championships.

If she can shake off the tiredness from her legs that could be quite a battle while other entries include Amy Griffiths, Erin Wallace, Jenny Walsh, Gemma Kersey and Lilly Coward.

The 5000m races will have an extra edge as they incorporate the England Athletics Under-23 and Under-20 Championships and will be used to select the teams for the respective European Championships.

The race for a place in the under-23 men’s team is particularly intriguing and two of the top four fastest men this summer, all of whom already have the qualifying standard of 13:53, are in the field – Isaac Akers (13:48.61) and Rory Leonard (13:50.22).

Tom Mortimer (13:28.12) and Charles Hicks (13:34.63) are sitting it out.

There is some real quality in the race with British international Andrew Butchart, lining up for his third 5000m of the summer after opening with 13:20.39 in America, placing him second quickest in the country this year so far and then 13:23.73 in the Müller Grand Prix at Gateshead.

The fastest three under-20 men all go in the B race with current No.1 Henry McLuckie (13:56.20) seemingly out on his own as the only sub-14 minutes man while rivals Alastair Marshall (14:16.30) and Callum Morgan (14:51.39) will both be seeing to better their PBs.

The top two under-23 women, Izzy Fry and Eleanor Bolton, will contest the women’s 5000m and they may line up against five-time Olympian Jo Pavey, who is scheduled to race on the track for the first time in three years – when she won the Grand Prix 5000m at Loughborough.

Claire Duck, Naomi Taschimowitz  and Louise Small are also entered.

Once again there will be an invitation 400m with British internationals Martyn Rooney and Cameron Chalmers entered.

If you want to see the action but can’t get to the stadium, where tickets are limited, then watch the actin online from 5.15pm – CLICK HERE