British record-holder takes on world's top two in his final competition in the Alexander Stadium before retirement

Greg Rutherford will line up alongside the world's top two long jumpers when he competes in Birmingham for the final time before retirement, describing it as "a bit of a change of the guard".

South Africa's world champion Luvo Manyonga claimed victory in the Olympic Stadium last weekend as British record-holder Rutherford competed in the iconic London venue for the last time, but Juan Miguel Echevarría was forced to miss the Müller Anniversary Games through injury.

The Cuban is set to be back in action in time for the next UK Diamond League meeting on August 18 though, as he returns to the city where he claimed his world indoor title in March.

"I am really excited to have him (Echevarría) there in Birmingham too, and that I will have the chance to compete against him before I retire," said Rutherford, who has been struggling with injury and will hang up his spikes at the end of the summer after a highly successful career which has included Olympic, world, European and Commonwealth gold medals.

"He, in my opinion, will go on to become the world record-holder and will become the greatest ever so it will be wonderful to compete against him in Birmingham.

"It’s a bit of a change of the guard, and that’s how I am looking at it. I have had my time in the sun and been the best in the world for all of those years, but now it’s like I am passing the torch on. Hopefully he will run with it and elevate the event to where it should be."

Echevarría soared out to a marginally wind-aided (+2.1) 8.83m in Stockholm in June for the longest jump recorded in 23 years.

He went on to leap a legal 8.68m (+1.7) at the end of the month, while Manyonga's best is 8.65m from last year and he’s recorded 8.58m so far in 2018.

"The long jump is such an incredible event and I hope that from Echevarría’s successes, we see a whole new flood of new young athletes getting involved with long jumping," said Rutherford.

"And once we keep pushing these kinds of athletes out and letting people see how incredibly talented they are, what we find is that those events will come to the top and people will really enjoy it."

Looking ahead to an emotional farewell in Birmingham, Rutherford added: “I am really excited. As the crowd sees you appear, there is a sort of rippling effect of cheers and every year that I have competed there has been relatively emotional for me. Ever since London 2012, the crowd have been amazing towards me. So, to do it, for what will be the last time in such a great stadium with so many memories for me, is going to be very emotional and I am probably going to cry.

"We are very lucky in Great Britain that the crowd who come along generally are very knowledgeable and in Birmingham it’s generally the big athletics fans that are there, so they really do get behind you and know what is good and what’s bad. They know the athletes and will know that I am not at my full strength but they will get massively behind me with every jump so it will be really special."

Tickets are available at britishathletics.org.uk