Glasgow International Match

The Sainsbury's International Match, formerly known as the Aviva International Match, was an annual indoor track and field athletics meeting which takes place in late January in Glasgow, Scotland. The televised competition is the first major indoor event in the United Kingdom's athletics calendar. It was held at the Kelvin Hall International Sports Arena from 1988 to 2012. It moved to the Commonwealth Sports Arena from 2013 onwards.

The facade of Kelvin Hall – the meeting's venue from 1988 to 2012.

The International Match was an international team competition, with representatives typically competing for five different squads: Great Britain, a "World" or Commonwealth select team, and three other countries. In each athletic event, athletes score points for their team depending on performance and the team with the greatest number of points at the end of all competitions is declared the winner.[1]

History

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World record holder Mike Powell competed at the meeting in 1993.

The inaugural edition (primarily a contest between French and British athletes) was held in 1988 as the Dairy Crest International and it attracted participants such as Linford Christie and Butch Reynolds.[2] The event was broadcast on ITV and was well received with around 2.75 million viewers in total.[3] The Kelvin Hall became a prominent indoor venue, hosting the 1990 European Athletics Indoor Championships, and the 1990 Dairy Crest Games pitted a British team against a select team from East Germany.[4] After a change of sponsor, the Pearl International Games featured a Great Britain vs Russia competition, as well as high calibre guest athletes including world champions Michael Johnson and Mike Powell.[5] France returned as the rival team to the hosts in the 1995 and 1996 competitions.[6][7]

The competition was sponsored by Norwich Union from 2000 to 2009. During this time, the international competition developed from a two-team to a multi-team contest: Swedish, Russian and German athletes competed against British athletes in 2002,[8] and by 2004 it had become a five-way team contest (with athletes representing Great Britain, Russia, Sweden, Italy and a World select team). The indoor International Match became a testing ground for young and upcoming British athletes as the country's established international athletes often trained abroad or avoided indoor competition in favour of more prestigious outdoor competitions.[9][10]

In spite of this, the event continued to attract many of Britain's prominent athletes as well as significant foreign competition; in 2003 the 60 metres featured the then-world record holder Tim Montgomery and Dwain Chambers, with world long jump champion Dwight Phillips and Olympic medallist Bernard Williams also on the programme.[11]

Following the renaming of Norwich Union, the competition became known as the Aviva International Match in 2010.[12] Great Britain won the 2010 competition, highlighted by Jessica Ennis' win in British record-time against reigning 60 metres hurdles world champion Lolo Jones.[13] The 2011 competition saw a five-team competition between Germany, Great Britain, the United States, Sweden and a Commonwealth Select team, which was won by the German team. Helen Clitheroe produced a stadium record in the 3000 m, embarking on a solo run to victory.[14] In the 2013 competition, the United States and Russia tied with 58 points each.[15]

The last edition was in 2015. In 2016 the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix moved to the Emirates Arena in Glasgow for the very first time, as part of the inaugural IAAF World Indoor Tour.[16]

Events

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Aviva International Match events
Men 60 m 200 m 400 m 800 m 1500 m 3000 m 60 m hurdles Long jump Triple jump High jump Pole vault
Women 60 m 200 m 400 m 800 m 1500 m 3000 m 60 m hurdles Long jump Triple jump High jump Pole vault

Meeting records

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Women

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References

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  1. ^ Aviva International Match Archived 2 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Spikes Magazine. Retrieved on 2010-01-24.
  2. ^ Gillon, Doug (1988-02-08). Christie and Reynolds Agree Glasgow's on the Right Track. Glasgow Herald. Retrieved on 2010-01-20.
  3. ^ Gillon, Doug (1988-06-10). Winter Warmer for Scottish Indoor Athletics. Glasgow Herald. Retrieved on 2010-01-20.
  4. ^ Sport in Brief – Athletics. Glasgow Herald (1990-01-24). Retrieved on 2009-01-20.
  5. ^ Rowbottom, Mike (1993-01-31). Athletics: Grindley trails in the final strides: Mike Rowbottom reports from Glasgow . The Independent. Retrieved 2010-01-20.
  6. ^ Rowbottom, Mike (1995-02-07). Christie faces old adversary. The Independent. Retrieved on 2010-01-20.
  7. ^ Athletics: Christie plans sprint double. The Independent (1996-01-09). Retrieved on 2010-01-24.
  8. ^ Athletics: Sprinters face race-off. The Daily Telegraph (2002-02-20). Retrieved on 2010-01-24.
  9. ^ Athletics: Newton and Grant given chance to raise profile[dead link]. The Independent (2004-01-24). Retrieved on 2010-01-24.
  10. ^ Turnbull, Simon (2002-03-11). Athletics: Rising star East sets a summer target[dead link]. The Independent. Retrieved on 2010-01-24.
  11. ^ Rowbottom, Mike (2003-06-23). Athletics: Montgomery has a point to prove against Chambers[dead link]. The Independent. Retrieved on 2010-01-24.
  12. ^ Jessica Ennis to captain Britain at international match in Glasgow. The Guardian/PA (2010-01-20). Retrieved on 2010-01-24.
  13. ^ Ennis steals the show in Glasgow. European Athletics (2010-01-31). Retrieved on 2010-02-01.
  14. ^ Brown, Matthew (2011-01-29). Ennis sparkles in Glasgow. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-01-30.
  15. ^ http://www.britishathletics.org.uk/media/news/2013-news-page/january-2013/26-01-13-glasgow-int-match-report/ [dead link]
  16. ^ "Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix". British Athletics. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
  17. ^ "60m Results" (PDF). UK Athletics. 25 January 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  18. ^ "150m Results" (PDF). UK Athletics. 25 January 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2014.[permanent dead link]
  19. ^ Mark Woods (26 January 2013). "Five world-leading marks in Glasgow, Solomon and Greene shine over 600m". IAAF. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  20. ^ "Duane Solomon 1:15.70 US Record! Mens 600m - British Athletics International Match 2013".
  21. ^ Steven Mills (20 February 2016). "1500m world lead for Iguider in Glasgow, world U20 indoor record for Tsegay". IAAF. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  22. ^ Steven Mills (20 February 2016). "1500m world lead for Iguider in Glasgow, world U20 indoor record for Tsegay". IAAF. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  23. ^ "Long Jump Results". IAAF. 20 February 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  24. ^ "4×400m Results" (PDF). UK Athletics. 25 January 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  25. ^ "150m Results" (PDF). UK Athletics. 25 January 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  26. ^ Steven Mills (20 February 2016). "1500m world lead for Iguider in Glasgow, world U20 indoor record for Tsegay". IAAF. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  27. ^ "3000 Metres Results" (PDF). UK Athletics. 28 January 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  28. ^ "High Jump Results". IAAF. 20 February 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  29. ^ "4×400m Results" (PDF). UK Athletics. 25 January 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
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