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 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]
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]
| Event | Record | Athlete | Nationality | Date | Ref | Video | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 m | 6.50 | James Dasaolu | 25 January 2013 | [17] | |||
| 150 m | 15.84 | Kim Collins | 25 January 2013 | [18] | |||
| 200 m | 20.67 | John Regis | 11 February 1995 | ||||
| 400 m | 45.33 | Danny Everett | 8 February 1992 | ||||
| 600 m | 1:15.70 | Duane Solomon | 26 January 2013 | [19] | [20] | ||
| 800 m | 1:46.22 | Tom McKean | 4 March 1990 | ||||
| 1500 m | 3:34.94 | Abdelaati Iguider | 20 February 2016 | [21] | |||
| 3000 m | 7:39.55 | Mo Farah | 20 February 2016 | [22] | |||
| 60 m hurdles | 7.36 | Colin Jackson | 12 February 1994 | ||||
| High jump | 2.37 m | Vyacheslav Voronin | 5 March 2000 | ||||
| Long jump | 8.08 m | Fabrice Lapierre | 20 February 2016 | [23] | |||
| Triple jump | 17.20 m | Christian Olsson | 27 February 2007 | ||||
| 4 × 400 m relay | 3:06.27 | Luke Lennon Ford Richard Buck Conrad Williams Nigel Levine | 25 January 2013 | [24] |
| Event | Record | Athlete | Nationality | Date | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 m | 7.04 | Merlene Ottey | 8 February 1992 | |||
| 150 m | 17.32 | Desiree Henry | 25 January 2013 | [25] | ||
| 200 m | 22.81 | Natalya Pomoshchnikova-Voronova | 30 January 1993 | |||
| 400 m | 50.62 | Olga Zaytseva | 28 January 2006 | |||
| 800 m | 1:58.46 | Maria Mutola | 24 January 2004 | |||
| 1500 m | 4:01.40 | Sifan Hassan | 20 February 2016 | [26] | ||
| 3000 m | 8:42.59 | Hellen Obiri | 28 January 2012 | [27] | ||
| 60 m hurdles | 7.74 | Ludmila Engquist | 4 March 1990 | |||
| High jump | 1.93 m | Alessia Trost | 20 February 2016 | [28] | ||
| Levern Spencer | ||||||
| Isobel Pooley | ||||||
| Pole vault | 4.76 m | Svetlana Feofanova | 2 February 2003 | |||
| Yelena Isinbayeva | 24 January 2004 | |||||
| Long jump | 6.85 m | Galina Chistyakova | 3 March 1990 | |||
| 4 × 400 m relay | 3:33.49 | Meghan Beesley Kelly Massey Laura Wake Victoria Ohuruogu | 25 January 2013 | [29] |