Heartbroken Richard Kilty has spoken of his confusion after he was omitted from the British squad that will compete in the European Indoor Championships next month.
The 29-year-old Teessider is the reigning 60m European Indoor Championship but will not be given the opportunity to defend his title in Scotland.
The controversy stems from the fact that while the event organisers stipulate anyone who has run 6.78secs or under can compete in Glasgow, British Athletics decided to implement a selection requirement of 6.60secs.
Only two Brits, Reece Prescod and Chijindu Ujah, have achieved that time but have opted not to compete in the Euros.
So the GB governing body was only able to pick people based on their 100m times from last summer and Ojie Edoburun was the only option and that leaves two of the three 60m slots vacant.
Former Gazette Sportsperson of the Year Kilty is on the comeback from a Achilles injury and ran 6.63secs at the weekend. He believes he was on course to be at a level to defend his title in Glasgow.
“I’m absolutely gutted not to be selected,” he told Telegraph Sport. “I’ve never been so upset in my athletics career. It’s heartbreaking not being able to stand on the line and defend a title which I have won twice.
“It was my dream when I woke up from Achilles surgery to defend it. I gave it my all, I was hoping the selectors had faith in me.
“Their selection is very confusing and I think the standards are very inconsistent. I have run faster (indoors this winter) than everyone in the UK who is eligible for selection and to be left out is heartbreaking.
“To be sat at home knowing I’ve run faster than Britain’s selected representative and that I’m double defending champion is very painful and confusing. I will be appealing the decision.”
Justifying the selection policy, British Athletics performance director Nick Black said: “We had a very clear policy which says the qualification mark is 6.60secs. That’s been the men’s qualification mark since 2013 for the European Indoors.“If you look back through history that is a standard that historically many people have achieved. It’s never been questioned in the past and it’s a standard that we’ve all been comfortable with it.
“This year, for a combination of reasons, athletes haven’t met that standard. I don’t think that means there’s a problem, or athletes aren’t performing, or the standard is wrong. It just means athletes didn’t meet the standard.”
Kilty’s 60m indoor honours include the 2014 World Championships and the 2015 and 2017 European Championships.
