Lorraine Ugen hoping to take England football spirit into Athletics World Cup
Thursday 12 July 2018 14:08, UK
British team captain Lorraine Ugen has vowed to take on the baton from the England football team at this weekend's inaugural Athletics World Cup in London on July 14-15, live on Sky Sports.
Long jumper Ugen will skipper Great Britain as they go up against the United States, Poland, China, Germany, France, Jamaica and South Africa over two days of competition at the London Stadium.
Gareth Southgate's side were knocked out of the World Cup by Croatia in Wednesday's semi-final in Moscow, but Ugen hopes the Three Lions' performances in Russia will act as an inspiration for the British athletics camp.
"It is almost as if the England World Cup team passed us the baton," the 26-year-old said. "We can continue that home spirit, the support for England, and propel that on to our athletics team.
"I am very optimistic we can do well. I never go with which team is the favourite. I just go there with the mentality that we are going to give it our best, try and score as many points as possible, and hopefully bring it home."
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Ugen has been in impressive form this season, recording a world lead of 7.05 metres at the British Championships in Birmingham.
She also won the Stockholm leg of the IAAF Diamond League.
"I definitely believe I am in really good shape," she added. "At the British Championships I jumped really well and I want to take the momentum forward.
"I want to continue to do world-class jumps and hopefully we will see a lot more of that this weekend.
"I am always excited to compete in front of the home crowd as they get me really pumped, they are really supportive, and there is always a good turn-out, too."
Ugen will be joined in the British squad by the recently crowned 110m hurdles British champion and Sky Sports Scholar Andrew Pozzi.
High jumper Morgan Lake, sprinter Beth Dobbin, hammer thrower Sophie Hitchon and former world 400m hurdles champion Dai Greene, have also been selected.
Sprinters Reece Prescod, Dina Asher-Smith, Zharnel Hughes and Adam Gemili and middle-distance runner Laura Muir, however, will not take part.
Coverage of the Athletics World Cup is available on July 14/15 beginning at 7pm on Saturday - you can watch on Sky Sports Action and Main Event while it will also be available to all Sky customers on Sky Sports Mix, channel 121
Sunday's climax will be available on the same channels, with Mix and Action covering the event from 7pm and Main Event viewers joining from 8pm
