Birmingham’s magnificent Alexander Stadium proved to be the perfect setting for day three of these championships. It’s been two years to the day since England hosted the Commonwealth Games at this venue and now judging by the weekend’s results, a new generation of world class athletes are benefitting from everything this huge arena has to offer.
With the distance races completed on Friday and Saturday, it was down to the sprinters and field eventers to shine in the sun and they duly obliged with Championships Best Performances and British records. It doesn’t get any better than that. Here’s how the key action on Sunday unfolded:
U17 women
Isabella Turner (Dacorum) had three attempts at a Championships Best Performance of 3.91m but had to settle for 3.80m to win gold in the pole vault. She has a 4.00m to her name this season and now an England title to go with the English Schools one she won a few weeks’ ago.
Despite the early hour, the hammer – the first event of the day – proved to be one of the most exciting. Tegan Brown (Elaine Fileman, Tavistock) won the gold with 52.61m but had to work hard for it, with barely a metre covering the first three. She needed a big PB, which she did with her first throw before ending the competition with a massive best more than a metre better than her previous best mark.
On the track, Lucia Bertacchini (Andrew Fisher, Winchester) powered off the final hurdle to win the 300H in 42.95. Shiloh Omotosho (Sarah Robinson, Basildon) left it until the final stride to take the 300m in 38.18, great running in the outside lane.
U15 girls
Bethany Pendlebury (Michael Martin, Trafford) effectively won the discus with her first throw of 33.13m before a huge fifth round effort of 38.67m.
In a close shot put, Monica Malagala (Geoff Tyler, Chelmsford) won with 13.30m.
Izzy Rae (Bracknell), the English Schools’ champion and seventh fastest ever with 10.90 took the 75H in swift 11.01.
U17 men
Sean Appiah (Basildon) used this championship to right a few wrongs. A few weeks back he set an English Schools’ record of 21.32 for 200m in the semi-finals only to lose the final. His 21.67 in qualifying suggested he meant business. And that was indeed the case. He flew to a personal best of 21.26 and a well-deserved national title.
Despite smashing into the final hurdle, Zack Cumberland (Sam Stanislaus, City of York) took more than a second off his best time to win the 400H in 54.22. The first six ran PBs in the 400m in a field headed by Rowan Whittaker (Paul Daynes, City of York) who ran 48.25, an improvement of more than half a second.
U15 boys
All eyes were on Divine Iheme (Nkiruka Iheme, Radley) in the 200m. On Saturday he clocked a British record on his way to the 100 metres gold medal and given he’s also the record holder for the 200m (21.74 this season), the CBP of 22.13 looked to be under threat. Running in lane seven, he flew around the bend and kept his form superbly to clock a sensational 21.63 into a -1.0m/s headwind, completing a stunning sprint double. He did reveal he’d picked up a slight niggle after the 100m but a massage back at the hotel sorted that and he was quick to praise everyone who’s helped him this season. Next up? The Southern champs where he’s eyeing up an even faster time.
The 300m was equally impressive, if not more so, as Gabriel Oguagwu (Notts) ran 35.58, just outside of Olympian Ben Pattison’s CBP and the ninth fastest of all time. That’s amazing in itself, but just one hour earlier, the 300m Champion had run 22.36 for second in Iheme’s lightning fast race. When it comes to doubles, Oguagwu’s was perhaps the best!
Combined events
Women’s heptathlon
There was no change after the first event, the long jump. Overnight leader Eden Robinson (Millfield School) stretched out to 5.66m, 12 points and 4cm better than her closest rival Laura Evans (Mike Guest, Cardiff), who jumped 5.62m. Robinson enjoyed a 40-point lead going into the javelin where she launched a huge second round throw of 41.73m which caused much celebration!
Of course, the heptathlon is never over until that final event, the 800m has been conquered, but she’d built up a 186-point buffer with such an impressive throw. With that kind of lead, Robinson ran a controlled first 600 before making a bid to steal the race. In the end, she just ran out of legs and had to be content with third in a personal best of 2:19.73, but the British title was hers, also with a PB of 5597.
U20 women’s heptathlon
With just 11 points separating Matilda Secker (Mark Ormerod, Tonbridge) from Neve Davenport (Jessica Taylor-Jemmett, Trafford) the long jump was always going to be interesting. Davenport eased into first place and a 31-point lead after she jumped 5.33m while Secker had to be content with 5.18m.
With just the two events to go, it was starting to look good for Davenport who is a very good javelin thrower and not so bad over 800m! It took just one throw to confirm that as Davenport reached 31.40m with her first effort. She ended it with 34.83m and headed into the two laps with a good lead of 210 points. And even so she could be excused if she took it little easy, Davenport hit the front at the bell and fought hard over the final lap on her way to first in the race and first overall in 2:18.16. She was rewarded with a gold medal with an impressive score of 5070.
Men’s decathlon
The overnight leader, Sammy Ball (Michael Dyer, Reading) picked up where he left off late Saturday with a sharp looking 110H. He clocked 14.88, close to his best while his rivals Jami Schlueter (Toby Stevenson, University of Washington) and Harry Kendall (David Hull, Tonbridge) both appeared up for the challenge, running 14.50 and 15.62 respectively. Kendall kept the pressure on with his final throw of 44.84m in the discus, the next event only for Ball to respond with a lifetime best of 42.63m.
Next up was the pole vault, which by its very nature can change things radically. However, a safe 4.20m, followed by a first-time clearance of 4.40m by Ball effectively confirmed the destination of the gold medal with the javelin and 1500m to go when he went even higher, clearing an equal PB of 4.60m at the second time of asking. Schlueter ended the vault with 4.30m, while Kendall cleared 4.00m.
Kendall did have a better javelin with a 55.92m second round effort, but Ball’s final throw of 49.84m made sure he still had a good gap on his pursuers. The only real question was: how close would he get to the magical 8000-point barrier? The answer was frustratingly close. He took the gold medal with 7776 after 4:42.90, a personal best point total. Next time?
U20 men’s decathlon
Conrad Winter (City of Norwich) got Sunday under way with a solid rather than spectacular run in the 110H. He ran 15.80, but behind him Remy Weinbrecht (Greg Richards, Highgate) produced a sharp looking 15.36 to close the gap to just 44 points. The third placer at this point, Toks Akanbi-Mortimer (Mike Guest, Cardiff) also edged a little nearer to the top of the podium with 15.32.
In the discus, Winter opened up with a big throw of 40.96m, four metres clear of his closest rivals. However, he could go no further and while Weinbrecht couldn’t quite match Winter’s throw, he did rally with 40.83 with his final effort. The pole vault can be unpredictable at the best of times, but more so in this age group where it is a new event for many. Winter, however, had everything under control and stretched his lead yet further with a 4.40m clearance, almost sneaking over a PB of 4.50m.
A fine second round throw of 54.14m by Winter in the javelin provided yet more evidence as to where the gold medal would be heading after the 1500m. He finished superbly to clock 4:41.24, his fastest ever time, which in turn gave him a best-ever points total of 7205.
Junior Para Champs
Toby Richardson (Mickey Bushell, Yate, T57) produced a timely personal best to win the 200m in 31.79, doubling back with a 17.64 win in the 100m. Amy Thompson (Dave Brown, Liverpool Pembroke, F41), winner of the discus added the shot title to her collection with 7.34m. On the track, Yasmine Hodkinson (Weir Archer, T54) looked very smooth in wheelchair 100m, clocking 21.47.
View the day one report here.
View the day two 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-3-building-dreams/
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Publish date : 2024-07-29 03:01:23
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