Ohuruogu set to star at Belfast meet

OLYMPIC 400 metres champion Christine Ohuruogu will be the star attraction at the Woodie’s DIY Irish Indoor Senior Championships at the Odyssey Arena, Belfast, on February 7-8.

Ohuruogu reached the pinnacle in Beijing in August, underscoring her gold medal performance at the world championships in Osaka the previous year. Once again she tore the form book to shreds when overhauling raging hot favourite, Sanya Richards of the USA, in the home straight to win in 49.62 seconds.

Now Ohuruogu, 24, will be the first British track Olympic champion to compete in Belfast since sprinter Linford Christie raced at the Mary Peters Track back in August 1992, immediately after his Barcelona triumph.

Ohuruogu will also compete in the 60m and 200m.

In early 2006 she won her first major title at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and followed this up in August 2007 with another gold medal at the world championships in Osaka where she set a new career best time of 49.61 seconds.

Ohuruogu’s main concern this year will be to defend her world title in Berlin next August.

Meet Director of the event and General Secretary of Athletics NI, John Allen, said they were delighted to have such a high profile star competing at the Odyssey.

“It is not often we get to see such a well known Olympic champion competing here and I hope the local athletics fans will give her the welcome she deserves,” he said.

Already announced for this top class event are Irish Olympians Paul Hession (200m), Robert Heffernan who set a national record there last year and Olive Loughnane, who competed in the walks.

This year competition for places on the Irish team for the European Indoor Championships in Turin will be up for grabs with the selectors set to name the squad the following day.

Action in Belfast gets under way at 4.30pm on Saturday and 1pm on Sunday. The event will be shown on RTÉ on Monday, February 9.

lTickets are available at the Odyssey Box Office; visit www.indoorathletics.net for further details.