Istanbul-based club Enka squeezed out a winning margin of eight points at the ECCC Track & Field Group A in the men's division in Mersin, Türkiye two years ago ahead of Playas de Castellon and Sport Lisboa e Benfica and these three teams are expected to contend for the title in Birmingham this weekend.
With star power on both the track and in the field, Enka might be confident of extending their winning margin over their chief rivals at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham.
The standout athlete on their team is the reigning European 400m hurdles champion and Olympic bronze medallist Yasmani Copello, who arrives fresh from a European-leading mark of 48.31 set at the Turkish Super League in Mersin last weekend.
Copello’s time was the fourth fastest of his career thus far and his lifetime best of 47.92 makes him the fastest on paper by almost two seconds ahead of Mark Ujakpor who will wear the vest of Playas de Castellon in Birmingham.
Herkese iyi pazarlar.
— Yasmani Copello (@yasmanicopello) May 20, 2018
Turkcell Atletizm Süper Ligi'nde yeni sezona rekorla baÅŸlamak mutlu etti.
48.31'lik derecemle de bu yıl için Avrupa'da en iyi, dünya genelinde de en iyi 3. dereceyi elde etmiÅŸ oldum. pic.twitter.com/7yJc9ZaqJC
Enka will be looking for big points in the sprints from Jak Ali Harvey who will contest the 100m, 200m and the 4x100m relay. Harvey will go head-to-head with Birchfield Harrier’s Joel Fearon - himself a sub-10 competitor - in the 100m and will come up against Fearon’s clubmate Leon Reid, who won a bronze medal in the Commonwealth Games, over 200m. Playas de Castellon’s Samuel Garcia will contest both the 200m and 400m.
In the long distances, reigning European 10,000m champion Polat Arikan Kemboi has been named in the 3000m and 5000m for Enka and Tarik Langat Akdag is similarly fancied in the 3000m steeplechase.
Sport Lisboa e Benfica’s banker across the two days will be Pedro Pablo Pichardo, who is back in gleaming form with a world-leading 17.95m at the Doha Diamond League, his best mark in three seasons. Pichardo will face Playas de Castellon’s Pablo Torrijos, a former European indoor silver medallist.
Enka and Lithuanian-based club Cosma are expected to split the throwing events evenly. Enka will be looking for maximum points from Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Mesud Pezer in the shot put - although Sport Lisboa e Benfica’s Tsanko Arnaudov - will challenge - while former Olympic bronze medallist Esref Apak is the favourite for the hammer title.
The star name on Cosma’s team is world discus champion Andrius Gudzius, who leads the world lists with 69.13m - just eight centimetres shy of his lifetime best set when winning the world title in London last year. Maximum points should also come from 21-year-old Edis Matusevicius in the javelin, who leads the lists with 84.78m.
Live streaming of the ECCC Track & Field Group A will be available on both Vinco Sport and RunnerSpace.
Note: Marcin Lewandowski is a late withdrawal from the 1500m due to injury.