A guide to who is competing and where you can watch Friday's World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting

The first World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting of 2021 takes place in Karlsruhe, Germany, on Friday (January 29), with a number of star names set to compete.

Britain's world 200m champion Dina Asher-Smith goes in the 60m as she races indoors for the first time since 2018, while France's former world pole vault record-holder Renaud Lavillenie will be looking to build on his strong start to the season after matching his best ever season’s opener with 5.92m at the StarPerche event in Bordeaux.

Despite not having competed indoors for three years, this will be Asher-Smith's fourth time racing in Karlsruhe and this time the 25-year-old, who has a 60m PB of 7.08, will be joined by her compatriot Asha Philip, the 2017 European indoor champion and British record-holder with 7.06, plus Switzerland's Ajla del Ponte, Germany's Rebekka Haase and France's Carolle Zahi.

In the pole vault, Lavillenie will compete against his brother Valentin, plus Poland's multiple world medallist Piotr Lisek and Germany's 2013 world champion Raphael Holzdeppe.

Other highlights include:

» Kenya's world 3000m steeplechase champion Beatrice Chepkoech in the women's 3000m, where she will be joined by Britain's European indoor bronze medallist Melissa Courtney-Bryant, Kenya's Gloriah Kite and Ethiopia's Fantu Worku.

» The men's 3000m features Britain's Andrew Butchart, Kenya's Bethwell Birgen, Morocco’s Abdelaati Iguider and France's multiple European under-23 champion Jimmy Gressier.

» Cuba's world indoor long jump champion Juan Miguel Echevarria who jumps against European champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece and Sweden's European indoor silver medallist Thobias Montler, plus European champion Paraskevi Papachristou of Greece, European indoor champion Ana Peleteiro and USA's Tori Franklin in the women's triple jump.

» France's European champion Pascal Martinot-Lagarde in the 60m hurdles alongside his compatriots Aurel Manga and Wilhem Belocian, plus USA's world indoor silver medallist Jarret Eaton.

» A women's 60m hurdles featuring Nigeria's African champion Tobi Amusan, European champion Elvira Herman of Belarus and Dutch European indoor champion Nadine Visser.

» World leader Christina Schwanitz, who threw 19.11m earlier this month, plus Britain's Sophie McKinna, USA's Raven Saunders and Chase Ealey in the women's shot put.

» Three-time world indoor champion Pavel Maslak in the 400m, plus 2017 world champion Pierre-Ambroise Bosse and Britain's 2016 European bronze medallist Elliot Giles in the 800m.

» A women's 1500m including Ireland’s European indoor medallist Ciara Mageean, Uganda’s double world finalist Winnie Nanyondo and Germany's two-time world steeplechase medallist Gesa Felicitas Krause.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, a meeting 'bubble' will be in place with various protocols and there will be no spectators in the stadium.

The scoring disciplines on the World Athletics Indoor Tour rotate each year. For 2021 the Gold-level scoring disciplines are:

Men - 400m, 1500m, 60m hurdles, high jump, long jump
Women - 60m, 800m, 3000m/5000m, pole vault, triple jump, shot put

Each athlete’s best three results will count towards their overall point score. The athlete with the most points in each scoring discipline at the end of the tour will be declared the overall winner.

The full start lists can be found here.

Timetable

(Times stated are local time - CET)

18:40 W Shot put
19:18 W Triple jump
19:40 M Pole vault
19:47 W 60m hurdles heats
20:04 M 400m final 1
20:11 M 400m final 2
20:23 W 60m heats
20:37 M 800m final
20:44 M 60m hurdles heats
20:54 M Long jump
20:57 W 1500m final
21:07 W 60m hurdles final
21:14 W 3000m final
21:30 W 60m final
21:36 M 3000m final
21:54 M 60m hurdles final

How to watch

Live results during the competition will be available here.

Fans in the UK will be able to watch the action live via BBC Sport on BBC iPlayer, the Red Button and the BBC Sport website. Steve Cram and Andrew Cotter will be on commentary.

For fans in the USA, Canada and Australia, coverage will be shown by FloSports - FloTrack, while there will also be a live stream of the meeting available via the World Athletics YouTube Channel (geo restrictions apply).

Keep an eye on our Twitter feed for updates and our website for an event report.

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