Lord Coe to run in Olympic torch relay ahead of Vancouver 2010

 LONDON 2012 chairman Lord Sebastian Coe is expected to carry the Olympic torch in Canada ahead of the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.

TORCHBEARER: London 2012 chairman Lord Sebastian Coe is expected to carry the Olympic torch ahead of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics (Getty Images)

Coe, a double Olympic gold medallist, will arrive in Vancouver at 18:00 local time, accompanied by a team of observers from Locog, including chief executive Paul Deighton.

The torch arrived in British Columbia on Sunday, the 101st day of the relay, where it was welcomed by Premier Gordon Campbell in Abbotsford.

The Olympic flame will arrive in Vancouver on Friday to light the cauldron at the opening ceremony at the BC Place Stadium, having passed through the Lower Mainland from Mission to Horseshoe Bay.

By Friday, the flame will have reached more than 1000 communities across Canada. Olympic organisers say 12,000 torchbearers will have carried the flame before the Games open.

Sir Matthew Pinsent, a four-time Olympic rowing gold medallist, was also selected as an international torchbearer and took part in the relay on Friday, while Eddie ‘the Eagle' Edwards, the notorious British ski jumper, who shot to fame for his sub-standard performances at Calgary 1988 has also carried the torch.