Surprise as Sainsbury's pulls out of British Athletics sponsor deal

Sainsbury's has cut short its four-year deal with British Athletics to sponsor the sport.  The large-scale deal was signed in 2013 and was due to run until 2017.

But an announcement came just days before the World Athletics Championships start in Beijing to say that a mid-point review had allowed the supermarket to end the deal early.

Jenny Meadows at this year's UK Indoor Championship, EIS Sheffield

The surprise to many will be the timing - we have only just had the third Anniversary Games in London, all of which were backed by Sainsbury's, and it was only last year that they had agreed to sponsor all of British Athletics major events.

Jessica Ennis-Hill confirms participation at the Anniversary Games

Jessica Ennis-Hill has added to her growing list of comeback events this year by confirming that she will compete at the Anniversary Games Diamond League meeting in London on 24-25th July.

This comes after confirmation of her entry at the Manchester City Games and Gotzis Hypo meet, both in May.

"My race schedule is starting to take shape and it will be good to compete," she said.  "My main goal this season is to be as competitive as possible with the long term goal being at the Rio Olympics."

Mo Farah breaks European Half-Marathon record in Lisbon

Congratulations to Mo Farah who has won the Lisbon half-marathon in a new European record time of 59 minutes 32 seconds ahead of Kenya's Micah Kogo.

In the process, the double Olympic (10,000m and 5,000m) champion became the first Briton to break 60 minutes - knocking 20 seconds off the record set 14 years ago by Spain's Fabian Roncero.

This comes on the back of his only world record - the two-mile indoor mark he set at the Birmingham Grand Prix last month:

Mo Farah running 8:03.40 for his 2-mile world record, NIA, Birmingham, Feb 2015

Oh, to have been in sunny Lisbon to capture it, but instead was shooting this morning at an overcast and decidedly chilly Woodburn Road stadium in Sheffield #gottalovethesport

All the best for a great season Mo - hope to catch you again at the Anniversary Games in London.