Hitchon headlines British squad for Euro Team Champs

Hammer thrower Hitchon headlines the 56-strong squad, which boasts an blend of promising young talent and more experienced competitors for the event, which takes place from June 23-25.

European medallist Jazmin Sawyers will compete in the women's Long Jump, Olympians Morgan Lake and Chris Baker in the high jump, along with fellow Rio 2016 alumni Jade Lally, Nick Miller and Luke Cutts in the discus, hammer and pole vault, respectively.

Shara Proctor, 2015 World silver medallist in the Long Jump, will compete in the Triple Jump.

With limited opportunities for field athletes to compete against high-profile competitors ahead of the home World Championships this summer the Lille Métropole championships will provide the perfect occasion to nurture up and coming talent.

The team will also include strong relay squads featuring Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medallists from both the 4x100m (Asha Philip, Desiree Henry and Darryll Neita) and 4x400m (Emily Diamond, Anyika Onoura and Eilidh Doyle).

Meanwhile, 2015 4x400m World bronze medallists Rabah Yousif, Jarryd Dunn and Delano Williams have made the cut, along with European indoor 60m Champion Richard Kilty and in-form sprinters CJ Ujah and Adam Gemili in the men's 4x100m squad.

British Athletics performance director Neil Black heralded the youthful squad selection and expected a significant number of them to be on the scene in years to come.

"Many of these athletes should be in the mix for Tokyo 2020 and beyond in 2024. So it will be interesting to see where they stand against some of Europe's top names," he said.

"With the British Team Trials and qualification for the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London taking place the following weekend in Birmingham, it has allowed us the somewhat unique opportunity to choose a largely developmental team.

"Obviously we still want to see a great British team performance in France, but we also need to give our most experienced athletes the best possible build-up going into a home World Championships – so everyone on the WCPP was given the option to compete in Lille or concentrate on Trials.

"I'm glad so many of those we expect to be selected in the field events for London have made themselves available for this event. We will be looking for them to pick up a large number of points for the team.

"Jumpers and throwers especially have limited opportunities to compete at elite level, so to have two top class competitions, first in France then back home in Birmingham, over two weekends in a row will be good for them."

Sportsbeat 2017