Asha Philip and Andrew Pozzi both booked their place on the plane to Belgrade next month after successfully defending their titles on day one of the British Athletics Team Trials.
Philip defended her women's 60m title, while Pozzi continued his superb start to 2017 by winning the men's 60m hurdles final as Britain's best athletes gathered in Sheffield.
Ten national titles were decided on day one of the trials as athletes looked to claim a prestigious national title and secure a place on the British Athletics team for the European Indoor Championships in Belgrade next month.
Philip defends women's 60m title, while there was drama in the men's final
The 60m is traditionally the championships' blue riband event and this year did not disappoint. There was drama even before the men's final began when reigning European champion and 2015 World indoor champion Richard Kilty was disqualified for the second time in as many years. The 27-year-old was controversially disqualified in last year's semi-final for a false start after his foot slipped on the blocks, but it was a case of déjà vu for the "Teeside Tornardo".
When the gun to signal a false start was fired, just moments after the start gun went off, the look on the face of Kilty said it all. He qualified quickest for the final and, without last year's winner James Dasaolu in the field, Kilty would have fancied his chances to claim his first British title. Instead, it was Andrew Robertson celebrating, the runner-up from last year, who won the men's final with a time of 6.57. Theo Etienne finished second, while veteran British sprinter Dwain Chambers finished third.
The women's 60m final did not have the same drama as the men's as Asha Philip produced a dominant display to defend her title. The 26-year-old sped out of the blocks and made her final victory look easy as she won in 7.19. The silver medal went to 20-year-old Shannon Hylton and Rachel Miller won bronze.
Philip now has her eyes on a medal in Belgrade at the start of March: "I want a medal – I say I don’t care what colour I want but obviously I’d love the gold. No one wants to be second best. I’m good enough to do it so that will be my target."
Pozzi dominant once more
World leader Andrew Pozzi stormed to victory in the men's 60m hurdles to win his fourth British indoor title. Like the men's 60m final, there was drama before the final began when David Omoregie and Edirin Okoro were both disqualified after false starts. Following lengthy discussions with the officials, they both left the track, but the disruptions didn't seem to faze Pozzi.
The 24-year-old won in a time of 7.51 and that would have been a new stadium record had he not already broken Andy Turner's record from 2007 in the heats when he equalled his world leading time which he set at last weekend's indoor meeting in Karlsruhe, Germany. His final victory secured his place on the plane to Belgrade along with David King, who finished second in a time of 7.76.
"I‘m really happy with the times I’ve put together today, , now the main aim is to try and win the championships in Belgrade," said Pozzi. "I’ve got the quick times under my belt, so it’s about reproducing that type of form come the championships."
Fox and Ive produce PB's to win British titles
Jade Ive set three new personal bests in a brilliant display in the women's pole vault to claim her maiden British title with a height of 4.35m. She arrived at the team trials in the form of her life having already beaten her personal best by 7cm last month and she added a further 15cm onto her height in Sheffield. Defending champion Sally Peake, who was looking for her third successive title, was unable to respond after Ive set a personal best by clearing 4.26m.
Ive is an athlete high on confidence after a good start to 2017 and it was no surprise to see the former elite level gymnast wanting to continue to increase her personal best even further. At first, she cleared 4.31m, before asking for the bar to be raised again to 4.35m. The crowd were in raptures when Ive successfully cleared the 4.35m height, which puts her 6th on the UK's all-time list.
Nathan Fox also set a new personal best to win his third successive national indoor title in the men's triple jump. The 26-year-old beat his previous best by 8cm in a first round jump of 16.53m and, although it was enough for Fox to claim another British title, it was still 17cm short of the qualification standard for the European Indoor Championships next month. Nigeria's Tosin Oke came the closest to Fox's distance with a jump of 16.40m, while 2014 champion Julian Reid won bronze (16.30m).
Oskan-Clarke and McColgan both win titles after thrilling finishes
There were thrilling finishes to both the women's 800m and 3000m finals. The 3000m final proved to be a battle of two Olympians: Steph Twell, who competed in Beijing in 2008 and in Rio last year, and Eilish McColgan, who competed at both London 2012 and Rio 2016. Twell led for most of the second-half of the 3000m final, but a determined finish by McColgan saw her edge Twell on the finish line to claim her first national indoor title.
Shelayna Oskan-Clarke added the 800m indoor title to the outdoor title she won last year after beating defending champion Adelle Tracey by half a second in the women's 800m final. Oskan-Clarke led from the front, setting the pace in the opening three laps, but with one lap to go, Tracey tried to come around the outside of Oskan-Clarke. Unlike last year, when Tracey produced the performance of her career to pass global medallists Jenny Meadows and Lynsey Sharp in the final 100m, Oskan-Clarke finished strongly to claim the British indoor title.
In the men's 800m heats, 45-year-old Anthony Whiteman, who competed in both the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games, set a new world record for the over 45's with a time of 1:52.96. The pre-competition favourite Guy Learmouth continued his strong early season form to qualify quickest for tomorrow's 800m final.
Bramble, Lake and Wallader all defend their titles
Dan Bramble won his third successive long jump title, moving from third to first with his last jump of 7.80m to beat Ashley Bryant's round two jump of 7.71m. Daniel Gardiner was a close third, with just one centimetre separating Bryant and Gardiner. After claiming her first national title at the age of 18 last year, Morgan Lake successfully defended her high jump title, although she is now not the only reigning high jump champion.
Both Lake and her training partner Bethan Partridge cleared 1.89m and, after the winner couldn't be decided in a jump off, the pair will share the title. 1.89m was a personal best height for Partridge, while the result secured Lake a place on the British team for the European Indoor Championships after she cleared the qualification mark of 1.92m last weekend.
Rachel Wallader successfully defended her shot put title; improving her own stadium record to 17.43m to retain the title ahead of last year's runner-up Sophie McKinna. Adele Nicoll ensured it was the same athletes as last year standing on the podium after finishing third. Both McKinna and Nicoll also set personal bests in the competition.
What can we expect on day two?
One of the highlights of day two will be the final event of the championships as the 400m looks set to be hotly contested. 400m hurdles specialist Eilidh Doyle has ditched the hurdles this weekend in search of a national indoor title and she will have the chance to claim the women's 400m title after qualifying for tomorrow's final. Doyle will face competition from Lina and Laviai Nielsen with both performing well in the heats and semi-finals on their way to qualifying for the final.
There will be a new 400m men's champion for the first time in seven years with Nigel Levine, who has won the last six titles, not competing in Sheffield after he was injured in a serious motorbike accident while attending a training camp in Tenerife last month. Tomorrow's final could see a repeat of the Scottish championships where Callum Chalmers (last year's runner-up) beat Jamie Bowie, while Jarryd Dunn could be one-to-watch after qualifying fastest for the final.
In the field events, the women's long jump will no doubt be the women's long jump final as heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson goes head-to-head with world indoor bronze medallist Lorraine Ugen and European silver medallist Jazmin Sawyers. Johnson-Thompson will also be in action in the 60m hurdles where Cindi Ofili, the younger sister of last year's winner Tiffany Porter, will be hoping to keep the title within the family. Race walker Tom Bosworth will be looking to follow up last year's 3000m British record by breaking his own national record over 5000m on Sunday.
Scott Lincoln is likely to be a class apart in the shot put as he looks to defend his title, but the men's high jump crown will change hands with Chris Baker deciding not to defend his title in Sheffield. Alexandra Russell will start as the favourite to claim the women's triple jump crown.