Day two of these Championships picked up where the opening one had ended with a string of superb performances that confirm the future of athletics is in safe hands. A Championships Best Performance in the heats of the U15 Boys’ 100 – and a British record in the final – confirmed the next generation is progressing superbly.
At the other end of the age scale, the current senior World Heptathlon Champion in the form of Katarina Johnson-Thompson can say the same. She put the finishing touches to her Olympic preparations with an appearance in the first two events, both of which looked very encouraging.
And in between we had every ingredient from personal bests to stunning sprint finishes, huge last round efforts and much more. Here’s how day two’s key events unfolded:
U17 women
After a comfortable looking qualifying round, where she ran a PB of 11.83, Isabelle Walkey (Sandra Woodman, Yate) looked like one of the favourites for the 100m title. That proved correct. She enjoyed a great start and kept her form superbly to clock 11.79.
Gabriella Tcheukam (Paul Weston, Croydon), the English Schools winner, ended the competition with her very first throw in the discus. She threw 43.42m for one of the most comprehensive wins of the day, close to six metres ahead of her nearest competitors.
U15 girls
Shivelle Marshall (Paul Weston, Croydon) didn’t enjoy the best start in the 100m, but a great final 30 metres saw her claw back the field and she won in 11.97.
Leila Newth (Ealing, Southall and Middlesex), the winner of the triple jump on Friday added the long jump title to her collection. She took the lead with her first jump of 5.30m, slipped to bronze mid-competition but returned to the gold medal slot with her fourth round 5.69m. She then lost that lead in round four, only to respond with 5.81m in round five and for good measure in the final round as well. A great competition worthy of any national championships.
U17 men
Mirroring Friday nights’ pole vault which went long into the night, the eventual winner Harry Casey (John Mahon, Enfield and Haringey) and Braimoh Busari (Richard Pilling, Crawley) battled it out in a long, hard-fought competition, raising the bar ever higher. In the end, Casey jumped two PBs at 4.35m then 4.40m to secure the gold medal.
The triple jump was equally as exciting as Rahman Odugbayi (Dartford H) had led for much of the competition after a third round 14.22m. But with his last jump, William Langridge (Lorraine Winton, Wimborne) went one centimetre further to take the title, touching down at 14.23m.
“I think it went really well! It was a little bit slow at the start, but I ended up picking it up and I cam in with a clutch jump at the end, so I’m really, really happy.”
U15 boys
The 100m was all about the record books. Divine Iheme (Nkiruka Iheme, Radley) ran a superbly easy looking Championships Best Performance of 10.71 in the qualifying rounds. But that was just the beginning. He flew to a British age-group record of 10.56 (his third of the year) in the final and still looked like there’s more to come. The word ‘sensational’ probably doesn’t do the run justice. This was simply incredible and world-class in every way, fully 0.22sec faster than the previous mark of last year.
“It was great honestly. I got a nice explosive start and carried it out to the finish line. I’m just very thankful!”
Combined Events
Women’s heptathlon
Keen to put the finishing touches to her Olympic preparations, Katarina Johnson-Thompson (Aston Moore, Liverpool) made a guest appearance for the first day. This was very much a training event for her, but the good news is that judging from her relaxed victories everything looks in order as she comfortably cruised to 13.54 in the 100H.
Then, using a five-stride approach KJT, wearing her leggings then entered the high jump at 1.66m, an unusually low height for her. As expected, that looked very easy as she slowly made her way to her usual heights. She called it a day with a second time clearance of 1.81m, still off five strides.
So, with the World Champion on her way to Paris it was over to the new leader, Wales’ Laura Evans (Mike Guest, Cardiff), who cleared 1.72m and followed that with a 10.59 shot. Heading into the final event of the day, the 200m, it was a Wales one-two as Eden Robinson (Millfield School) followed just six points behind (14.11, 160 and 13.26). Robinson then ran 25.10 to head back to her hotel as the overnight leader with 3322pts.
U20 women’s heptathlon
There’s no better way to start a combined events competition than with a personal best, so to do that by half a second is superb. Kira Jones (Kendal) did precisely that to establish an early lead in the 100H, crossing the line first in 14.25. The next event, the high jump often sees the field shuffle and this competition was no exception in that department. Matilda Secker (Mark Ormerod, Tonbridge) eased into the lead thanks to her 1.73m clearance (and 14.70 100H).
The shot saw her retain that lead with a 9.00m throw. However, behind her Neve Davenport (Jessica Taylor-Jemmett, Trafford) moved into second after her 11.29m effort. The 200m saw early leader Jones fly to 25.03 followed by Davenport, with Secker back in fourth with 26.24. That meant it was Secker who headed to day two as the overnight leader with just an 11-point advantage over Davenport.
Men’s decathlon
It took Sammy Ball (Michael Dyer, Reading) just 10.83 seconds to make his mark in the 100m. Granted, it was early days but given he’s the British record holder in the U20 age group decathlon, there’s no doubting his consistency over the 10 events. And for the keen statisticians amongst us, his opening sprint was actually 0.03 faster than he clocked 12 months ago on his way to that record.
Ball then long jumped 7.10m, while one of the pre-event favourites, Harry Kendall (David Hull, Tonbridge) moved into contention with 7.06m, which after his 10.99 in the 100m moved him back into the reckoning. Ball kept the pressure on with 15.17m in the shot, with Kendall more than a metre back with 14.02m. Throw Jami Schlueter (Toby Stevenson, University of Washington) into the mix with his 10.84 in the 100, 6.96m long jump and now 14.26m in the shot and it was getting interesting up front.
The high jump saw Ball head into the final event of the day, the 400m, in the lead. He cleared 1.90m while Schlueter strengthened his grip on second, also with 1.90m. Ball has an impressive 48.10 personal best while Kendall has run 48.06 in the 400m, so it was no surprise the two fought it out stride for stride over the final 100m. In the end, Ball nicked it with a PB of 48.08 to Kendall’s 48.10, meaning Ball enjoyed a comfortable 170-point lead overnight.
U20 men’s decathlon
Conrad Winter (City of Norwich), the England indoor heptathlon champion opened his account with 11.20 in the 100m. He’s been in magnificent form this summer with victories in Hexham and Nantes, France so it would be a case of holding his form. He did just that with a 6.95m long jump, just 1cm shy of William Reid (Sam Stanislaus, City of York) who was rewarded with an outdoors best of 6.96m.
Winter threw 12.79m in the shot, but saw Toks Akanbi-Mortimer (Mike Guest, Cardiff) move into contention thanks to his 13.84m (to go with his 11.30 and 6.76m). That meant just two points separated the first two going into the high jump. Winter, however, was up for the challenge and stretched that lead slightly to 54 points with 1.88m before a controlled 400m in 51.58 resulted in a 96-point lead for him to defend.
Junior Para Champs
Amy Thompson (Dave Brown, Liverpool Pembroke, F41) threw 21.87m to win the discus, while Elliott Griffiths (Paul Rudkin, Liverpool, T20) was a clear winner in the long jump. His best mark was 5.76m but he produced an incredibly consistent series with just 8cm covering his four best jumps. He then won the 100m in 12.23.
Logan Murray (John Mitchell, Cornwall, T20) was crowned the discus champion with a personal best of 23.34m with his final throw, while Rosie Porter (Catherine Walker, Herts Phoenix, F38) was the winner of the long jump with 3.90.
View the day one report here.
View the full results here.
Source link : https://www.englandathletics.org/news/england-athletics-age-group-para-and-u20-senior-combined-events-championships-day-2-a-recipe-for-success/
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Publish date : 2024-07-28 09:20:17
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