The prestigious European Ricoh Tour starts tonight in Belgium heralding the beginning of the business part of the indoor athletics season. The four meeting tour – winter’s equivalent of summer’s Golden League – has become the focal point of the winter calendar since its inception in 1995. This winter it promises to be better than ever with many of the world’s top athletes using the indoor season to assess their competitive fitness and break up the long winter training period in advance of the Sydney Olympic Games in September. Tonight’s meeting, the Flanders Indoor in Gent, heralds the start of nine days of intense competition. The Tour moves on to Lievin for the Meeting Gaz de France on Sunday and Stockholm for the Globen Gala on Thursday 17th before finishing with the final – the CGU Indoor Grand Prix – in Birmingham on Sunday 20th. In recent years the quality of the Ricoh Tour has been reflected in the number of world records achieved. Three world records were set last year: Haile Gebrselassie broke the 5000m record in Birmingham, whilst Maria Mutola broke the 1000m record and Nicole Humbert set a new pole vault record in the Final in Stockholm. This year SEVEN CURRENT WORLD INDOOR RECORD HOLDERS will be in action on the Tour: Maurice Greene (60m hurdles), Wilson Kipketer (800m, 1000m), Colin Jackson (60m hurdles), Sergey Bubka (polevault), Maria Mutola (1000m), Gabriela Szabo (5000m) and Heike Drechsler (long jump). Of those, Kipketer and Szabo appear the most likely to add to their record tally this year. Kipketer has already broken the world record 1000m record in Stuttgart last month and runs in the 800m in Stockholm and the 1000m in Birmingham whilst Szabo has vowed to attempt the 2000m record in Lievin and the 3000m record Birmingham. The middle distance clash between the Kenyans and the Ethiopians looks set to be a feature of the Tour. Young Ethiopians Milion Wolde and Haylu Mekonnen – the fastest in the world this year over 1500m and 3000m respectively – will be keen to fill the void created by the absence of record breaking compatriot Haile Gebrselassie who misses the Tour through injury. However a mixture of experienced and emerging Kenyans including Laban Rotich, William Tanui, Paul Bitok, Moses Kiptanui and Kennedy Kimwetich will be out to maintain Kenyan domination and create their own records. Perhaps the greatest clash comes in the 2 miles at Birmingham in which the long standing existing world record could be under threat. This year’s events designated for a share of the $210,000 Ricoh Tour prize fund are: MEN – 60m, 1000-2000m, 60m hurdles and high jump; WOMEN – 60m and 800-1000m In the 60m world bronze medallist Dwain Chambers and American indoor specialist Brian Lewis battle for points throughout the Tour. Ato Boldon makes his comeback from the injury that wrecked his world championship chances last summer in Gent and Birmingham whilst training partner Maurice Greene joins the party in Birmingham for what looks set to be a mouth watering clash. 1997 World Indoor Champion Anier Garcia and former Olympic silver medallist Tony Dees look set to battle it out over the 60m HURDLES. Garcia, who won the silver medal in Seville last summer, has started 2000 in spectacular style taking two tenths of a second off his previous indoor best with the world’s leading time of 7.37 seconds. Both will be relieved that world champion Colin Jackson has chosen to make just one Tour appearance – on home soil at the Final in Birmingham. Kenyan born Wilson Kipketer will be strong favourite to win his two races, but the hottest favourite to win an overall Ricoh Tour title must be Vyacheslav Voronin in the HIGH JUMP. The 25 year old Russian world champion competes in all four meetings and has already produced the world’s best jump of the year – an impressive 2.35m. But he will have to watch out for reigning Olympic champion American Charles Austin who is using the Tour as part of his preparations to retain his Olympic title. In the women’s events last year’s runners up over 60M, indoor specialists Sevetheda Fynes from the Bahamas and Canadian Philomena Mensah, face tough competition from Sri Lankan Susanthika Jayasinghe and former world champion Zhanna Pintusevich. All four will be relieved that American 200m world champion Inger Miller has, like her training partner Maurice Greene, only chosen to compete in Birmingham in what promises to be the best race of the series. World number one Maria Mutola is a clear favourite to win the 800m. The front running Mozambique athlete has become a familiar figure on the Tour and, as in previous seasons, will use all four meetings as a vital part of her winter programme. The fast improving Austrian Stephanie Graf is likely to provide her greatest threat. As with previous years the top six in each of these events will score points at each meeting, with additional points available at the Final in Birmingham. Three highest scorers in each event will win a share of the prize money as follows: 1st place – US$20,000; 2nd place – US$10,000; and 3rd place – US$5,000. With the world searching for indicators to the outcome of the Millennium Olympic Games in Sydney, the 2000 Ricoh Tour looks set to be the most significant and entertaining 9 days of indoor athletics ever. Further information and regular updates on competitors, timetables etc are available from the Ricoh internet site: www.ricohtour.com or contact: Ulf Saletti on tel: +46 – (0) 8 – 667 19 30 fax: +46 – (0) 8 – 664 38 22 mobile: +46 – (0) 70 – 340 48 04 Andy Kay or Nic Watson from the Media Dept at Fast Track Tel: +44 (207) 245 0206 Fax: +44 (207) 245 0203 Mobiles: +44 (7710) 170494, +44 (7771) 868732