Lynsey Sharp: Former European 800m champion among entries for BMC meet in Belfast

Former European 800m champion Lynsey Sharp will be among the entries as the British Milers Club returns to Belfast on Wednesday evening.

Sharp won 800m gold and silver at successive European Championships in 2012 and 2014 and finished sixth in the Olympic final in Rio in 2016.

The 33-year-old Scot, who has broken two minutes an amazing 35 times, has been on the comeback trail this year.

This followed her becoming a mother and also having health issues.

After competing at the World Championships in 2019, Sharp had surgery to remove cancerous cells later that year and she and partner, fellow Olympic athlete Andrew Butchart, had a baby boy in 2021.

Following three years away from competition, Sharp has returned to action this year with her season's best a 2:03.59 clocking in Copenhagen last month.

Her opponents on Wednesday evening will include American and 2021 NCAA 800m champion Michaela Meyer, who set her personal best of 1:58.55 two years ago, and Ireland's Jenna Bromell who produced her lifetime best of 2:01.80 when finishing a creditable sixth in a loaded two-lap race at the Belfast Irish Milers Meet in May on the same Mary Peters Track.

After improving his 1500m personal best last week to 3:37.08, Ireland's Cathal Doyle will move down in distance when he faces compatriots Roland Surlis and Charlie O'Donovan in the men's 800m.

Surlis set his 800m personal best of 1:46.94 at the Mary Peters Track in 2021 while O'Donovan showed decent form when clocking his fastest 1500m of 3:38.11 in the same Belgian race where Doyle set his PB on 8 July.

Locals Callum Morgan and Conall Kirk will take on Australian 3:40.94 man Will Lewis in the men's 1500m while the 3,000m field includes US athlete Julius Diehr [PB 7:54.37] and Australia's Joshua Phillips [7:55.65].

The BMC meeting, which starts at 18:30 BST, will also have 100m and 400m races for men and women with local athletes Oliver Swinney, Lauren Roy and Callum Baird all in action after representing Ireland at the recent European Games in Poland.

There are also a number of field events which will include 2018 World Under-20 silver medallist Sommer Lecky's participation in the women's high jump.

On the European circuit, Nick Griggs will compete over 1500m in Lucerne on Thursday night and a repeat of the brilliant form he has produced in recent weeks would edge him closer to securing a first Irish senior vest at next month's World Championships.

Griggs has clocked 1500m and mile personal bests of 3:36.09 and 3:55.73 over the last month and another strong run in the metric mile at the Spitzen Leichtathletik Luzern meeting would boost his chances of earning one of World Athletics' quota places for the Budapest championships which take place from 19-27 August.

Prior to that, the 18-year-old will defend his European Under-20 3,000m title in Jerusalem early next after sensastionally triumphing as a 16-year-old in Estonia two years ago.

There will be 56 1500m spots in Hungary and while it's a complicated system, Griggs' coach Mark Kirk estimates that a time in the region of 3:37 in Switzerland could be enough to move the Tyrone teenager into a qualifying position at the moment although the qualification period doesn't conclude until 30 July.

Griggs will have a last chance to earn valuable qualification points in the Irish Championships at Santry on the final weekend of this month.