Emirates Arena to stage British Indoor Champs again

Friday 4th December 2020

Photo by Bobby Gavin

The British Athletics Indoor Championships will return to Scotland early next year at the Emirates Arena.

Elite athletes will compete in a Covid-19 safe environment over the weekend of February 20-21 with British Athletics to use the event towards selection for European and World Indoor events.

Glasgow hosted the European Indoors in 2019 and then both the Muller Indoor Grand Prix and the SPAR British Athletics Indoor Champs early this year.

Unfortunately, come February 2021, the event will not be open to spectators as things stand under current Covid-19 restrictions.

The Championships will also act as the official Trial event for the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun (POL) and World Athletics Indoor Championship in Nanjing (CHN) which are currently scheduled to take place during the following month.

As the sport continues its return to action following a disrupted 2020 season, UK Athletics will continue to work closely with the Home Country Athletics Federations (HCAFs) and Glasgow Life in order to adhere to current and future changes to government guidelines and those specifically in Scotland.

This means that under current restrictions, the event will be held behind-closed-doors. However, it will be streamed on britishathletics.org.uk with more information available nearer to the event.

The format and shape of the competition will be communicated as soon as practically possible.

Guy Learmonth celebrates 800m title success at the 2020 British Indoor Champs at the Emirates Arena (photo via British Athletics/Getty Images)

‘As we look ahead to 2021, it is fantastic that we can confirm Glasgow as the host of the British Athletics Indoor Championships once again,’ said Joanna Coates, CEO of UK Athletics.

‘The Emirates Arena has hosted world-class athletics for several years, so we are thrilled to be working with the great team there to deliver this prestigious fixture in the calendar.

‘We are again sorry that whilst at present we cannot confirm a return to the arena for spectators, we will continue to monitor the government guidelines in Scotland as we build up to the event.

‘Once again, my thanks go to the Emirates Arena and Glasgow Life who we are collaborating with to deliver another high-quality sporting event, and to UK Sport for their support from the Continuity Fund, which has assisted in supporting the staging of this event.”

Councillor David McDonald, Deputy Leader of Glasgow City Council and Chair of Glasgow Life, said: ‘We are delighted to welcome back the British Athletics Indoor Championships to the world-famous Emirates Arena in February 2021.

‘As a city which is more than capable of staging outstanding international sporting events, the inevitable postponement and cancellation of so many events in 2020 was incredibly difficult for Glasgow.

‘We hope next year will allow the city to begin a slow and steady return to hosting world-class major sporting events, and the British Athletics Indoor Championships is the perfect event to celebrate the beginning of this process.’

More information on British Athletics website