Luke Mathews and Collis Birmingham are among those set to race on the streets of London on Sunday

Australian Luke Mathews will start as overwhelming favourite to win the men s elite race when the third edition of the Amba Hotels City of London Mile takes place in London on Sunday (June 19).

Mathews has been Australia s stand-out middle distance star of 2016. He opened his year with an 800m world lead of 1:46:35 in January, ran a 1500m PB of 3:35.99 in Nijmegen last month and won the 1500m at the Bislett Games on June 9 with a time of 3:37.99 in a race where Brits Jake Wightman and Tom Lancashire finished third and seventh respectively.

Mathews comes up against fellow Aussie Collis Birmingham who has a best time of 3:54.30 for the mile and who finished second in the corresponding race a year ago.

With Ryan Gregson winning here in 2014 and Kiwi Julian Matthews in 2015, there has yet to be a British winner of the men s race.

The strongest British opposition is likely to come from Rich Peters, who is returning from injury, and Chris Warburton, who finished second in the race s inaugural edition in 2014.

The women s race is much harder to call with last year s winner Alison Leonard deciding to miss the event to hone her preparation for the Olympic 800m trials.

Selma Kajan of Australia will be looking to go one better than her second place finish from 2014 and comes up against Morag MacLarty who finished one place behind her two years ago.

Others to watch include Jade Williams and Charlotte Arter, who finished fourth and sixth respectively in last year s race. Faye Fullerton, who was seventh in last month s Westminster Mile, is also in the field.

The elite races take place at the end of the programme. There is a separate Youth Mile, Women s Mile, Wheelchair Mile and Family Mile. The action gets underway at 10am on Sunday outside St Paul s Cathedral.

See www.cityoflondonmile.co.uk for further information.

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