British stars set for Birmingham homecoming

martynrooney

The team topped the final standings in Zurich by collecting a total of 23 medals, and 11 of those athletes to have occupied a step on the podium earlier this month will be in action on Sunday.

Two of those are Martyn Rooney and Matthew Hudson-Smith, who completed a one-two for Great Britain in the men's 400metres in Switzerland.

However, they will face stiffer competition at the Alexander Stadium as they come up against the discipline's star attraction in the form of Kirani James.

Grenada's James is the reigning Olympic, world and Commonwealth champion and will be confident of victory this weekend as the only man in the field to have broken 44 seconds.

But Rooney is focusing on the dynamic between himself and 19-year-old Hudson-Smith and how they can improve each other's performances.

"It's great for British athletics and for me, having someone pushing me is only going to make me a better athlete," he is quoted as saying in the Birmingham Mail. "He's a perfect sparring partner, hopefully it will be a positive rivalry that the public can get behind.

"We will be straight in at the deep end on Sunday, racing the Olympic, African [Isaac Makwala], American [Gil Roberts] champions. I’d like to give Kirani James a race and am not scared about racing him.

"He is the perfect 400m runner and a great guy, it's a privilege to race against such good athletes.”

Greg Rutherford has really kicked on since winning long jump gold at the London 2012 Olympics, adding wins in the European Championships and Commonwealth Games to his CV, and the crowd-pleaser is the outstanding performer in the field in Birmingham.

Olympic and Commonwealth champion Sally Pearson of Australia will come up against European gold medal winner Tiffany Porter in a competitive-looking women's 100m hurdles, while New Zealand's Valerie Adams will undoubtedly be among the frontrunners in the women's shot put.

In the non-Diamond League events, Mo Farah, who claimed gold in both the 5,000m and 10,000m in Zurich headlines the men's two miles, while another superstar of the track, David Rudisha, is the pick of the field in the 600 metres.

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