Richard Kilty given shock place in European Indoor Championships by organisers

Richard Kilty has been handed a shock place in next month’s European Indoor Championships by the organisers despite failing to meet British Athletics’ controversial qualifying standard.

The two-time champion had resigned himself to missing out on a chance to defend his 60 metres title in Glasgow after falling short of the excessively harsh national team qualifying mark.

However, in a highly unusual move, the European Athletics Council bypassed British Athletics on Wednesday and invited the 29-year-old to compete.

Richard Kilty has been handed a shock place in European Indoor Championships by organisers

It is a stunning reprieve for the 2014 world indoor champion, whose best time in the qualifying period of 6.63 seconds was well inside the European Championship criteria of 6.78s but outside the British Athletics standard of 6.60s.

Performance director Neil Black defended the qualifying method against accusations of farce when he named only one sprinter for three possible slots in his team on Sunday, but British Athletics has now confirmed Kilty will run in their colours in Glasgow on March 2.

Kilty, whose 2018 season was hampered by achilles problems, said: ‘I am really thankful to European Athletics for giving me the opportunity to stand on the start line and realise the dream I set after I had my surgery. The main thing for me has been to get on that start line as a defending champion at a home championships.

‘I struggled mentally for a couple of days after the team announcement but now I feel phenomenal and I can put it to the back of my mind and run for my family, my fans and the home crowd – that is all I am thinking about.

‘I want to please the fans and the home crowd that want to see me run in Glasgow and I want to make my family proud. Once again I am so thankful for the opportunity from European Athletics and I can’t wait to stand on the start line and try and win a third title in a row.’

Performance director Neil Black defended the qualifying method when he named one sprinter 

European Athletics president Svein Arne Hansen said: ‘This situation of a defending champion from the host nation being fit but not making his or her national team is fairly unusual. Our invitation is really a special case. It helps the individual athlete, of course, but more importantly it shows that we are ready to react to opportunities that will help our events succeed.

‘We all know that it adds interest for the public when they see that national stars, especially champions, will be competing.’

Unlike the European outdoor championships, there is no automatic qualification for defending champions in the indoor equivalent. However, in the wake of this saga, European Athletics confirmed they will discuss a change to the rules.

Before the intervention of European Athletics, Britain faced the embarrassing situation of taking only Ojie Edoburun to contest the 60m. Black indicated on Sunday there would be no change to their qualification rules, which set the qualifying mark at 6.60s and mandated that athletes attended the British Indoor Championships.

While that latter requirement is sensible, the qualifying time has been questioned within the sport, given it is out of kilter with other events. For instance, 6.60s would ordinarily put a sprinter in line for a medal, while the women’s qualifying standard of 7.25s would not even have made the final.

Before European Athletics intervention, Britain faced situation of taking only Ojie Edoburun (R)