Sotherton to take on Kluft

Olympic heptathlon bronze medallist Kelly Sotherton will challenge Carolina Kluft for top honours at this year’s European Indoor Championships.

Sotherton faces another awesome contest – this time in the five-event pentathlon – against the 21-year-old Swede when Madrid hosts the meeting from March 4-6.

Kluft, the favourite and last year’s World Indoor champion, finished as a teenager third when Birmingham staged the 2002 Championships.

But since then, the dominant Scandinavian has achieved a grand slam of European, world and Olympic outdoor heptathlon crowns.

Roman Sebrle will defend the heptathlon title he won three years ago and like Kluft, won the World Indoor title last March in Budapest.

The European Athletics Association have also confirmed the entries of other top stars for the Championships in the Spanish capital.

Estonia’s Erki Nool – who was succeeded as Olympic champion by Sebrle – is a starter along with Sebrle’s fellow Czech, former world decathlon record-holder Tomas Dvorak.