Richard Kilty is going to be the captain of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team for the IAAF World Championships

World and European indoor gold medalist is keen to share his “experience and enthusiasm” with the squad at the IAAF World Championships

Sprinter Richard Kilty has been voted captain of the Great Britain & Northern Ireland team for the IAAF World Championships taking place in Doha starting September 27.

Kilty, who won the world indoor 60m title and European indoor gold medals in 2015 and 2017, received the most votes after every member of the 73-strong British team was given the chance to nominate their choice of captain.

“It feels incredible,” said Kilty, who also recently captained Team Europe at The Match in Minsk. “It’s always a huge honor to represent the British team but to be selected as captain feels amazing. It will definitely go down as a special moment in my athletics career.

“The squad is so talented with many star athletes. A lot of the athletes in the squad have leadership skills and would do an amazing job at being captain so to think that they have voted me in is a huge honor and I’m over the moon with being captain.”

A European gold medalist in the men’s 4x100m relay from 2014 and reigning Commonwealth champion in the event, Kilty won the 200m at the European Team Championships last month and this season has also come within 0.05 of his 20.34 PB set in 2013.

Selected for his fourth successive world championships as part of the world champion men’s 4x100m relay squad, Kilty is the sixth British athlete to have been voted as captain by his fellow athletes and, as part of his role, will deliver the pre-championships captain’s speech at the British team meeting.

“It makes it extra special that my fellow athletes have selected me as their captain,” Kilty added. “I have lots of experience and enthusiasm, which I be sharing with the squad.

“I will bring energy and confidence to everyone around me from the athletes to the team staff. I’ve got a great story to tell and I will try my best to inspire the team every moment from my team speech and on a daily basis over the course of the championships.”

posted Thursday September 19th
by Athletics Weekly