Only once before has a Polish athlete won the women’s sprint title at the European Athletics Indoor Championships and if Ewa Swoboda becomes the second in Glasgow, there could be no greater time to do it.
Last June, athletics lost one of its greatest ambassadors with the death of Irena Szewinska, the multiple Olympic and European champion and world record-holder.
It was back in 1969 in Belgrade when Szewinska achieved her indoor title, then over a distance of 50m and when the championships were known as the European Indoor Games.
Swoboda could match those feats in Glasgow as she looks to solidify her status as Poland’s leading female sprinter for many a generation. The bronze medallist in 2017 – ironically in Belgrade – Swoboda, 21, looks ready to make that step up the podium after a brilliant winter.
Ewa Swoboda runs a world lead 7.08 in the 60m.pic.twitter.com/NXWU2miCQ3
— FloTrack (@FloTrack) February 3, 2019
She is joint top of the European list, sharing a time of 7.08 with Switzerland’s Mujinga Kambundji and if she can unleash her brilliant start, the title could be hers to lose. Swoboda ran her European-leading time at the start of this month in Karlsruhe while two weeks later, Kambundji put down her marker with a great performance to win the Swiss indoor title in St Gallen.
Kambundji won bronze at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham last March and she will be eager to return to the podium after finishing fourth in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay at the European Championships in Berlin.
In front of a British record, there will be a great deal of noise - and expectation - for the defending champion Asha Philip who won in Belgrade in a national record of 7.06. She is the national champion again with a season’s best of 7.12 and came within a fraction of beating Elaine Thompson in Birmingham the following week.
The most bemedalled sprinter in the line-up is Dafne Schippers from the Netherlands. On current form, Schippers is a stride behind the aforementioned triumvirate with a season’s best of 7.18 but the Dutchwoman - who has won European titles in the 60m, 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and in the heptathlon at U20 level - seldom comes away from a major event empty handed.
Neither does Richard Kilty from indoor championships and the Brit will be seeking a third successive title in the 60m, winning in Prague four years ago in 6.51 before defending his title in Belgrade in 6.54. He also won the world indoor title in Sopot in 2014.
Kilty has been battling back from an Achilles injury and did not meet the national qualifying time of 6.60 but he was given a special invitation by European Athletics and with his ever-improving form this winter – he now has a best of 6.63 – will be a big threat.
The quickest in the field based on season’s bests is Türkiye’s Emre Zafer Barnes who equalled the national record with 6.55 in Metz just over two weeks ago but with such fine margins separating the top sprinters, the event is certainly wide open.
Germany’s Kevin Kranz, 20, is just a fraction behind Barnes on the European lists after improving to 6.56 at the German Indoor Championships but Glasgow could also see the latest chapter in the progressing story of Slovakia’s Jan Volko who has clocked 6.58 this season.
In 2017, Volko won silver in Belgrade behind Kilty before he was crowned European U23 200m champion in Bydgoszcz in a championship record of 20.33.