UK Athletics Indoor Championships: Elliot Giles on fatherhood, injuries and medals

Having competed half a dozen times in the past month all over Europe while juggling a new business and adapting to life with a newborn daughter, Elliot Giles is a man who thrives on keeping busy.

The 27-year-old middle-distance runner leads the World Athletics Indoor Tour 800m rankings and has his sights firmly set on a medal at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade in three weeks.

Giles must first gain selection for the British team at this weekend's UK Athletics Indoor Championships in Birmingham.

His prospects look promising following recent victories in Karlsruhe, Ostrava, France and Torun, in addition to clocking a 1500m lifetime best last month.

«I believe I'm the most consistent athlete in the world over 800m and if I keep showing up like that, I will get a medal eventually,» said Giles, who came fourth at the 2018 World Indoor Championships.

«There are no nerves any more as I don't over-analyse or race the occasion,» he added. «I race the competitors and I know I out-work all the other guys in training.

»Making the British team is always hard — that's why I make sure I know how to win races from the front, the middle and the back, and I make sure I understand all the boys. It's good we have so many running well."

Based in Brighton under the guidance of Jon Bigg, Giles' form is testament to his resilience after a challenging winter which featured fractured sleep in the early days of new fatherhood, two consecutive injuries and testing positive for coronavirus.

«I didn't sleep a wink for the first six weeks as a new dad and because of that I twice tore my calf in November, but I'm very lucky that my partner Meg now does the nights with the baby so I can recover well from training,» said Giles.

«After training in