18th July 2024

BRILLIANT BROWN LEADS HEPTATHLON AS EURO U18S KICKS OFF IN STYLE

Thea Brown (coach: Joanne Harding, club: Sale Harriers Manchester) gave the British team a near-perfect start to the European Athletics U18 Championships in Slovakia, roaring to the lead in the heptathlon as 11 of her compatriots progressed through the rounds on the opening day.

Brown’s superb day began with a personal best of 13.18 (-0.6) in the 100m hurdles followed by a clearance of 1.87m in the high jump that matched the world under-18 lead. She rounded it off with a solid effort of 12.06m in the shot put and a clocking of 24.14 in the 200m.

Second overall after the 100m hurdles, Brown’s sensational effort in the high jump propelled her into a lead that she would not relinquish on the opening day, sitting clear at the top with 3796 points. Teammate Ava John (Yasmine Regis, Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow) is currently 19th with 3164 points.

Elsewhere there were 11 British qualifiers throughout the day. In the morning session Kara Dacosta (Stephen Ball, Trafford) led the charge, winning her heat in the women’s 400m to rank second overall.

Ava James (David Leach, Lewes) in the women’s 2000m steeplechase would also rank second after a personal best as her and Rae Le Fay (Peter Baker, Hastings AC) advanced to the final.

Lyla Belshaw (David Smith, Colchester Harriers), second in the ranking this year, was also second overall in the women’s 1500m heats, joined in the final by Isla McGowan (Ros Kelling, Banbury).

Alex Lennon (Nick Hancock, Sutton & District) and Evan Grime (Ian Grime, Salford Harriers) in the men’s 1500m, Lewie Jones (Richard Jones, Swansea) in the men’s javelin, Toby Wright (Steve Shaw, Taunton) in the 110m hurdles and Joel Ajayi (Gary Howard, Havering) and Joel Masters (Joel Humphries-Cuff, BFT Track Academy) in the men’s 100m, as well as Nell Desir (Lisa Waddon, Cardiff Archers) in the women’s 100m all advanced too.

The day belonged to Brown who set the tone for what would come as she lowered her personal best in the 100m hurdles to 13.18. The high jump next up was a thing of beauty as she cleared 1.87m – moments after requiring three attempts at 1.84m.

She was also narrowly close to clearing 1.90m and despite falling short, added three centimetres to her personal best and was 12 centimetres ahead of the rest of the field. She ranked 19th in the shot with that effort of 12.06m but was back in the top three in the 200m.

Brown clocked 24.14 (1.2) to assert her dominance at the top and a 141-point lead over Finland’s Enni Virjonen.

Teammate John clocked 14.21 (-0.3) in the 100m hurdles, leapt 1.60m in the high jump, threw 12.26m in the shot before a 25.96 (0.8) run in the 200m to rank 19th.

Dacosta lit up the morning session herself in Banská Bystrica as she won the fifth and final heat in the women’s 400m in 53.92 to rank second overall.

James was equally impressive in that opening session as she clocked a personal best of 6:44.37 minutes in finishing second in the second heat of the women’s 2000m steeplechase. Le Fay was drawn in the opening heat and safely navigated her way into the final after placing sixth in 6:50.52.

Onto the evening session and the British team’s good fortunes continued as Belshaw ran a fine race in the women’s 1500m heats.

Belshaw clocked 4:22.61 in the second of the two heats, placing second in that race and the same position overall. McGowan had earlier ensured British representation in the final after placing second as well in the first heat with a time of 4:23.98.

As Belshaw and McGowan both progressed out the women’s 1500m heats, so did Lennon and Grime in the men’s equivalent. Grime was second in the second heat in 3:59.96, while Lennon’s top-four finish in a much slower run opening race – he clocked 4:06.19 – was enough for him too.

In qualification for the men’s javelin, Jones ranked eighth overall after a best effort of 63.58m while Wright advanced out of the heats of the men’s 110m hurdles after clocking 13.66 (1.9) for second in his race and tenth overall.

Masters and Ajayi rounded off a successful opening day as they both progressed to the men’s 100m final. Masters set the tone by winning the first semi-final in 10.45 (1.7) – a time that would rank him second overall – while Ajayi equalled his personal best of 10.56 (0.3) in finishing second in the third semi-final for fourth overall.

Desir set two personal bests on the day to qualify for the final. She clocked 11.67 (-0.5) to win her heat before clocking 11.65 (0.1) for second in her semi-final to move onwards to the final.

Unfortunately earlier in the evening session Owen Garrett (Paul Filer, Yate) fell just short of progression in qualification for the men’s discus, ranking 15th overall after a best effort of 48.32m.

Results