British athletes to test out Olympic track

LONDON - London's Olympic Stadium will open to the public next week with several British medal hopefuls getting their spikes into the athletics track for the first time.

Perri Shakes-Drayton, who was a 400m hurdles bronze medallist at the European Championships in 2010, and pole vaulter Holly Bleasdale will take part in a stand-alone UK Athletics (UKA) event designed to test the 80,000-seater centrepiece of the Games in July and August.

The UKA event will run alongside the British Universities Championships, although the students will only be competing in horizontal jumps and throwing events.

UKA Head Coach Charles Van Commenee said getting an early feel for the stadium would be invaluable for British athletes.

"Preparing our athletes for what to expect when they walk into the Olympic Stadium at Games time is almost impossible," he said in a statement.

"At this event they will get the chance to familiarise themselves with the Olympic Stadium and we can remove a number of unknown factors for them. We are looking forward to our first experience in the magnificent Olympic Stadium."

A limited number of tickets have already sold out for the track and field events which start on May 4 with the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) saying crowd numbers will be between 4,000 and 6,000 for each of the four days.

A special event to mark 2,012 hours to go until the start of the London Games will also be held next Saturday, featuring Britain's Olympic hopefuls such as Shakes-Drayton.

LOCOG said a crowd of 40,000 will be inside the stadium for the "2012 Hours To Go' event which will mark the official opening of the 486 million pounds ($783.1 million) venue.

Next week will also see other test events in the Olympic Park, including the hockey and Paralympic tennis.