Marathon star Callum Hawkins confirmed for London 2017 World Championships

Callum Hawkins has become the first British athlete selected for the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London.

Hawkins, who shot to fame with his eighth-place finish in this year’s Virgin Money London Marathon, has been selected to run the marathon in London next summer by British Athletics.

The 24-year-old Scot built on his fine performance in the London Marathon with a superb run in the Rio Olympic Games marathon where he finished in ninth place.

Hawkins, who was given a £5,000 training grant by London Marathon Events Ltd ahead of last summer’s Olympic Games, said he was “extremely pleased and honoured” to be selected for his first World Championships.

British Athletics Performance Director Neil Black said: “We are delighted to confirm Callum’s selection for London. He has only competed over 26.2 miles three times, but we can already see the talent he has, finishing eighth at the London Marathon in 2016 and following that up in Rio at the Olympics with a brilliant ninth place.”

The World Championships take place from 4 – 13 August 2017.

Hawkins turns his attention to cross-country running this weekend when he forms part of an extremely strong looking senior men’s team travelling to Chia on the Italian island of Sardinia for the European Cross-Country Championships.

Alongside Hawkins is his fellow Scot Andy Butchart, who won this year’s Vitality London 10,000 and also won the trial race ahead of Hawkins for the European Cross-Country on Saturday 26 November.

Andy Vernon and Ben Connor, who placed second and third at the Vitality London 10,000,  are also in the team, with Dewi Griffiths and Ross Millington completing the line-up.

The women’s team is: Charlotte Arter, Katrina Wootton, Emily Hosker-Thornhill, Gemma Steel, Steph Twell and Pippa Woolven.

Under-23 and under-20 teams will also be part of the British squad competing in Sardinia on Sunday.

Source: Virgin Money London Marathon