Tough season opener for Jakob Ingebrigtsen in Liévin
Jakob Ingebrigtsen opens his 2022 campaign by facing a tough field in the 1500m at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas de Calais in Liévin on Thursday (Feb 17) against world indoor record-holder Samuel Tefera of Ethiopia and three-time European indoor champion Marcin Lewandowski of Poland.
At this meeting last year Ingebrigtsen ran a European indoor record of 3:31.80 and went on to win the Olympic title in Tokyo. The event will kick-start his 2022 track season although he has already shown formidable form this winter by winning the European cross-country title with ease in Dublin in December.
This World Indoor Tour Gold event sees a host of top middle-distance races. In the 3000m the Olympic 10,000m champion Selemon Barega faces fellow Ethiopians Lamecha Girma and Getnet Wale, plus Spain's Mohamed Katir and Kenya's Nicholas Kimeli, at 3000m.
In the women's 800m the world champion Halimah Nakaayi of Uganda races Jamaica's Natoya Goule and Ethiopia's Freweyni Gebreezibeher. It will be interesting to see how Goule goes as she is up against Keely Hodgkinson in the Müller Indoor Grand Prix Birmingham just 48 hours later.
The men's 800m, meanwhile, sees Elliot Giles facing a field that includes Adam Kszcot of Poland – the latter of whom is enjoying a retirement tour.
Gudaf Tsegay plans to attack the world indoor mile record of 4:13.32 set by fellow Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba six years ago. At this event 12 months ago Tsegay broke Dibaba's world 1500m record with 3:53.09.
Another Ethiopian, Ejgayehu Taye, the world 5km road record-holder, is set to make her indoor debut.
Elsewhere the Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs of Italy takes on Americans Ronnie Baker and Marvin Bracy plus African 100m record-holder Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya in the 60m.
World 60m hurdles record-holder Grant Holloway faces Pascal Martinot-Lagarde of France and world indoor champion Andrew Pozzi of Britain. For Holloway and Pozzi it will be the first of two clashes inside 48 hours as they will meet again in Birmingham.
Olympic triple jump champion Yulimar Rojas is tackling the long jump in Lievin and her rivals include Ukraine's world silver medallist Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk. The Venezuelan Rojas has already jumped 6.55m this season but look for her to go further as she is keen to make an impact in this event in 2022.
In the pole vault Katie Nageotte and Anzhelika Sidorova are in the women's event while Olympic silver and bronze medallists Craig Nilsen and Thiago Braz are in the men's vault.
For viewers in the UK the event will be live on the World Athletics YouTube channel (see below).
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