Olympic medallists take on the MiTo at Silverstone

No matter what sport you participate in, there's just something about cars that pulls all kinds of athletes towards them. A few months back we had a bunch of Olympic cyclists taking on the Vauxhall Astra VXR888 and now UK's top athletes have had a go in Alfa Romeo MiTos.

Following successful qualification at the UK Trials in Birmingham this weekend, Britain's Olympic silver medallists, Phillips Idowu (Triple Jump) and Germaine Mason (High Jump) were celebrating at Silverstone today with a day's circuit training, organised by Alfa Romeo, the Official Car Supplier of UK Athletics (UKA). The track day was a pre-cursor to next week's London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace and next month's World Championships in Berlin. The two medallists were joined by Beijing medallist, Tasha Danvers (400m Hurdles), currently sidelined by injury, and UKA Performance Advisors, Steve Backley and Katharine Merry. The day's program consisted of auto testing, circuit driving and high speed laps in top spec Alfa Romeo MiTos.

Steve Backley, three times Olympic medallist emerged victorious over the three disciplines, closely followed by Katharine Merry. 'We are now at a very intensive time of the season, where events come thick and fast. After the weekend's competition in Birmingham, it's great for the guys to have a day off and enjoy a different kind of sporting challenge. Those MiTos are really impressive - I'm 6ft 5 and I was amazed how spacious they are - it was a lot of fun!' he said.