Hicham El Guerrouj, who is considered by many to be the greatest middle-distance runner of all time, is to become the youngest man to be inducted, with the world record-holder having turned 40 in September and only just meeting the criteria of inductees needing to have been retired from the sport for a minimum of 10 years.

After winning the 1500m at the 1995 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Barcelona, El Guerrouj went on to claim a further six world titles indoors and out, as well as Olympic golds over 1500m and 5000m in Athens in 2004.

He broke the world 1500m record in 1998 and a year later returned to Rome to do the same over the mile, his respective times of 3:26.00 and 3:43.13 yet to be beaten. He also remains the world record holder for both distances indoors.

With athleticsweekly.com