Olympians Rowden and Fontes join Belfast entries
Britain's Daniel Rowden and Spanish athlete Ignacio Fontes are the latest Olympians to join the entries for the Belfast Irish Milers Meet on 10 May.
Rowden, 27, will compete over an 800m distance where he set his personal best of 1 minute 43.95 seconds in 2023.
The Woodford Green athlete won the UK 800m title in 2020 and 2023 and was an Olympic semi-finalist in Tokyo in 2021 in addition to representing Great Britain at two World Championships and two European Championships.
Rowden will be joined in the 800m field by two-time Olympian Fontes, who finished 13th in the 1500m final at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
The men's 800m field already includes Rowden's fellow British internationals Callum Dodds and Tom Randolph.
Dodds broke one minute and 45 seconds for the first time to clinch victory at last year's meeting in a track record of 1:44.79 which propelled him towards selection for the European Championships, as second-placed Randolph who also went under 1:45.
"The men's 800m is looking to be an absolutely fantastic race and it's great to have athletes of such high calibre on the start line," said meet director Eamonn Christie.
The Belfast meeting will be headlined by St Albans athlete Phoebe Gill who returns to the Mary Peters Track event after smashing the 45-year-old European Under-18 800m record when clocking 1:57.86 which cut almost four seconds off her personal best as she clinched a remarkable victory.
Gill, who went on to reach the Olympic 800m semi-finals in Paris after winning the UK title, will be competing over 1500m in Belfast.
Other big names at the Belfast meeting will include Ireland's 400m star Sharlene Mawdsley and Great Britain's double Paris Olympics relay medallist Sam Reardon.
Tipperary woman Mawdsley anchored her country to a dramatic mixed 4x400m relay gold at last year's European Championships and also won silver in the women's 4x400m at the Rome championships.
Reardon, 21, was part of Great Britain's quartet that clinched third place in the mixed 4x400m relay final in Paris and also helped his country secure bronze in the men's 4x400m relay at the Games.
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