FARAH, ENNIS HEAD BRITAIN'S EUROPEAN INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS SQUAD
By David Monti
(c) 2011 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.

Reigning European champions Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis will lead the British squad into next month's European Indoor Championships in Paris, U.K. Athletics officials announced today.

Farah, who won both the 5000m and 10,000m titles at the European Championships in Barcelona last August, is also the defending European Indoor champion at 3000m, a title he won in Torino in 2009.  In that race he set the championships record of 7:40.17, beating France's Bob Tahri (7:42.14) and Spain's Jesús España (7:43.29).  That victory was particularly sweet for Farah because in the 2007 edition of those championships in Birmingham, England, Farah fell in the preliminary round.  Disoriented, he initially began to run the wrong way on the track, before turning around, and sprinting furiously to catch up to the field.  Although he managed to qualify for the final, he only finished fifth.

"Yes, I think there's a lot more to come," a jubilant Farah said after winning in Torino. "You've got to be consistent, that's the main thing. I'm still learning a lot and I think I can go to the top."

Ennis, the European and world heptathlon champion and one of Britain's most popular athletes, is also an accomplished performer indoors.  She won the pentathlon gold medal at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Doha.

Other key athletes on the 32-member British team are defending European Indoor 60m champion Dwain Chambers, 2009 world championships 800m bronze medallist Jenny Meadows, and 2009 Fifth Avenue Mile champion Andy Baddeley, who will join Farah in the 3000m.  Olympic steeplechaser Helen Clitheroe has been named as team captain.

"This is a strong team which can realistically challenge for medals and top eight finishes, and I expect just that given the mix of experience and potential within the line-up," said Britain's head coach Charles van Commenee.