Twenty-one year old world 100 metres silver medallist Christian Coleman is one of their marquee names, having staked a growing claim to the position of world's most paramount sprinter following the departure of Usain Bolt with two world best timings over 60m this indoor season - with a startling 6.34sec currently awaiting official status as a record.

Coleman's most likely opponents as he seeks to win his first major international gold look likely to be fellow American Ronnie Baker, who chased him home at the trials in 6.40, and Su Bingtian of China who has dominated in Europe this season and ran 6.43.

The US team for these Championships, which run until March 4, contains 20 global medallists, including three defending champions.

Brittney Reese will be seeking her fourth world indoor long jump title, and Marquis Dendy will defend the men's version of that event.

Vashti Cunningham will seek to defend her high jump title against the stellar talent of Russian - but not yet Russia - athlete Mariya Lasitskene.

The 2014 world indoor co-winner is on a 37-strong unbeaten run going back to July 2016 and leads this year's world lists with 2.04m, while Cunningham has reached 1.97m.

The women's high jump is one of three events that will be showcased in an opening session within the Arena that first hosted this event 15 years ago.

Qatar's world outdoor champion Mutaz Essa Barshim looks similarly untouchable in the men's high jump, although after clearing 2.38m at this month's Asian Championships he has reportedly suffered from "technical problems".

That might let in 20-year-old Danil Lysenko who, like Lasitskene, will compete as an Authorised Neutral Athlete and has cleared 2.37m this season.

The third showcase event will open the track action with a flourish - a women's 3,000m field stacked with talent and featuring defending champion Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia, defending 1,500m champion Sifan Hassan of The Netherlands, Kenya's world 5,000m champion Hellen Obiri and Britain's European indoor 1,500m and 3000m champion Laura Muir.

The women's 60m hurdles looks likely to be one of the closest competitions of the Championships, and may quite possibly feature three US athletes in the medal positions given the presence of world 100m hurdles record holder Kendra Harrison, Christine Manning and Sharika Nelvis, who leads the women's rankings this season after setting a 7.70sec national record at the trials in Albuquerque.

The world indoor record of 7.68sec, set 10 years ago by Sweden's Susanna Kallur, looks in danger.

In the women's 60m, meanwhile, the interest will centre on whether Jamaica's Olympic 100m and 200m champion Elaine Thompson and world 200m champion Dafne Schippers can find top form and challenge the two contenders who finished ahead of them at the last IAAF World Indoor Tour event in Glasgow at the weekend - double world silver medallist Marie-Josee Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast and Britain's European 200m champion Dinah Asher-Smith.

American Paul Chelimo, a world 5,000m silver medallist, faces a hugely strong young Ethiopian contingent in the men's 3000m in 18-year-old Selemon Barega, winner of the world under-20 5,000m title in 2016 and the world under-18 3,000m title last year, Hagos Gebrhiwet, the 23-year-old Olympic 5,000m bronze medallist, and defending champion Yomif Kejelcha, who earned a wild card for the championships by winning the IAAF World Indoor Tour.

With no fewer than nine men owning season's bests of 5.88m or better, the men's pole vault promises to be one of the most keenly contested events.

Indeed, seven men cleared that height in a single competition, the All Stars meeting in Clermont-Ferrand at the end of February, in what was, for many of the athletes, a final tune-up.

It was American Sam Kendricks who won in France with a vault of 5.93m to top the world lists, a performance matched by French world record-holder Renauld Lavillenie, and it is those two that head to Birmingham with the highest hopes of taking gold.