Kilty gets the chance to defend his Euro indoor title

The Teesside sprinter had been sweating over his place in the 30-strong British squad after false starting in the 60m final at the national trials in Sheffield earlier this month.

But the 27-year-old’s third-placed finish at the Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham convinced the selectors to hand him the final spot ahead of James Dasaolu, the second fastest Briton in history and CJ Ujah.

Andrew Robertson and Theo Etienne secured their places after finishing first and second respectively in Sheffield.

After his selection, Kilty said on Twitter: “Next stop European championships in Belgrade. Proud to be part of a strong British team. Let’s go.”

Scottish runner Laura Muir headlines the travelling British party and will compete in the 1,500m and 3,000m.

Muir travels to Serbia in the form of her life after breaking Dame Kelly Holmes’ British 1,000m indoor record in Birmingham on Saturday.

The 23-year-old also set a new European record with the second fastest run of all time on Saturday, which came after posting a new European 3,000m indoor record and the British 5,000m indoor record.

Olympic heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson, sprint hurdler Andrew Pozzi and London 2012 bronze medallist Robbie Grabarz will also travel with strong medal claims.

Despite breaking the European 5,000m record at the weekend, Mo Farah will not head to Serbia, leaving Sheffield’s Lee Emanuel as the only Briton in the 3,000m.

Emanuel qualified after winning the trials on his home track in a time of 7:55.91.

Jazmin Sawyers, a former University of Sheffield student, will compete in the long-jump despite her on-going appearances on ITV television show The Voice.

The 22-year-old, who has also competed for Britain in bobsleigh, will attempt to win Britain’s first European indoor medal for 33 years in the women’s long jump but faces competition from teammates Johnson-Thompson and world indoor medallist Lorraine Ugen.

The Championships run between March 3 and 5.

UK performance director Neil Black said: “I’m pleased with the blend of this team. We’ve got Olympic medallists in Robbie Grabarz, Eilidh Doyle and Asha Philip; World indoor medallists in Lorraine Ugen and Richard Kilty; as well as exceptionally talented athletes like Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Laura Muir and Andrew Pozzi, all of whom I expect to make the step up this year and start winning global medals.

“Then we have Jazmin Sawyers, Steph Twell and Lee Emanuel, all European medallists who should be looking to make a statement of intent for 2017 by repeating those performances and finishing on the podium in Belgrade.

“Plus, there is a good depth of emerging talent with the likes of Shelayna Oskan-Clarke, Morgan Lake and David Omoregie, who all have potential to claim medals.

“With a home World Championships in London, 2017 is an even bigger year for us than 2016, so starting it off in a positive manner is essential and I am expecting to see a number of medal winning performances in Belgrade.”

Kilty won a shock indoor world title in 2014 before adding the European crown to his trophy cabinet with victory in Prague 12 months later.

The sprinter missed out on a chance to defend his world 60m crown last year after jumping the gun and earning an automatic disqualification at the British Championships.

This year’s renewal in Sheffield proved a case of deja vu when Kilty false-started in the final – after qualifying fastest in the heats and semi-finals. Kilty has since claimed he was sabotaged in his efforts to win in Sheffield after his running spikes went missing minutes before the race.

“I didn’t want to make any excuses, but literally everything was going smoothly, I headed to the call room and my spikes weren’t there,” Kilty said.

“The physios tipped up every bed and bag but they weren’t there, so my mind was going a million miles an hour. I thought I wasn’t going to be able to run.

“I actually had a pair that belonged to [British 400m runner] Luke Lennon-Ford in the back of my car.

“They were a size 10, which is a size and a half too big, but I strapped them on. I was on the marks just confused, thinking: ‘Can I do this?’ I can honestly say it was just my emotions were everywhere.”

A British Athletics spokesman confirmed that Kilty’s missing spikes were later located and the runner did not lodge an official complaint.

The disqualification left Kilty in a showdown with Dasaolu and Ujah in Birmingham and his time of 6.57 sealed his selection.

Great Britain squad: Richard Kilty, Andrew Robertson, Theo Etienne, Guy Learmonth, Kyle Langford, Tom Lancashire, Lee Emanuel, Nick Goolab, Andrew Pozzi, David King, David Omoregie, Robbie Grabarz, Chris Kandu, Allan Smith, Dan Bramble, Ashley Bryant, Asha Philip, Shelayna Oskan-Clarke, Eilish McColgan, Sarah McDonald, Laura Muir, Eilish McColgan, Steph Twell, Morgan Lake, Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Lorraine Ugen, Jazmin Sawyers, Rachel Wallader, Eilidh Doyle, Philippa Lowe, Mary Iheke.