26th December 2019
YEAR IN REVIEW: JULY - AUGUST
As another bumper summer season got into full swing, there were a string of age-group European records, world leading marks and medals aplenty as British athletes up and down the country broke new ground.
1) Steph Twell took a memorable victory at the Night of the 10,000m PBs with a stunning display, running 31:08.13.
In the incorporated European 10,000m Cup, Eilish McColgan also won silver, while Ben Connor looked in great form for a bronze in the men’s race. McColgan was joined by Alice Wright, Verity Ockenden, Charlotte Arter, Sarah Inglis and Mhairi MacLennan on the top spot of the podium as they won team gold.
2) The British team at the European Mountain Running Championships (Uphill) in Switzerland enjoyed a record breaking championship as they secured four gold medals, with the senior and junior men grabbing an individual and team double gold.
Jacob Adkin led the charge with gold in the senior men’s race in 53:22, with Robbie Simpson and Andrew Douglas taking the second and third scoring spots in seventh and ninth position respectively. In winning gold, Adkin became the first Briton since 2016 to claim an individual title.
After winning silver at the World Championships in 2018, Joe Dugdale stole the show for the junior men, cutting the tape in 28:49 with Matthew Mackay just missing out on an individual medal in fourth place, clocking 29:31, with Euan Brennan fifth place in 29:38.
3) Katie Stainton recorded a huge personal best in the final European Combined Events Team Championship in Ukraine to claim an individual silver medal and team bronze in Luysk.
She set personal bests in the high jump, shot put, long jump, javelin and the 800m to break the 6000-point barrier for the first time and earn a team bronze for Great Britain & Northern Ireland.
4) Jemma Reekie became the first British athlete to win two gold medals at a single European U23 Championships with a double in the 800m and the 1500m in Gavle, Sweden. The other gold medal came from Shemar Boldizsar in the men’s 200m.
A regular on the senior elite circuit over 1500m, Reekie stormed to victory in both with teammate Ellie Baker (Jon Bigg; Shaftesbury Barnet) taking silver in the shorter event.
There were silvers aplenty on the track as Oliver Bromby, Cameron Chalmers, Spencer Thomas and Piers Copeland all winning silver medals, in the 100m 400m, 800m and 1500m respectively. Tom Gale also won silver in the high jump, while both 4x400m relay teams won silver in their respective races.
Three further bronzes came from Emile Cairess and Cameron Fillery in the 10,000m and the 110m Hurdles respectively as well as Callum Wilkinson in the 20km Walk.
5) Following the success of the Under-23s, the British U20s team led the medal table at the European U20 Championships in Boras, Sweden, with 15 medals – six of them being gold.
Amy Hunt wiped the field in the women’s 200m to claim gold and Joshua Zeller was a clear winner in the men’s 110m Hurdles. Isabelle Boffey would strike gold for an age group European lead in the women’s 800m, with teammate Keely Hodgkinson recording a new personal best for bronze.
Perhaps the greatest success was the men’s 800m where Oliver Dustin led home Ben Pattison and Finlay McLear for a 1-2-3 to make it a British sweep. The women’s 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams would take gold respectively, with 4x400m member Amber Anning making it two medals after securing an individual silver over the same distance. Lucy-Jane Matthews and Holly Mills would win bronze medals in the 100m Hurdles and long jump too.
Seamus Derbyshire took silver in the men’s 400m Hurdles for a new personal best with Josh Lay taking bronze in the 1500m and Chad Miller doing the same in the 100m.
6) At the Müller Anniversary Games in London, there were a flurry of standout performances with Laura Muir leading the field home in the women’s 1500m in front of a home crowd.
Laviai Nielsen broke her personal best in the women’s 400m to consolidate herself as one of the best in Europe. Jonnie Peacock came close to his personal best and the world record in the men’s T44-64 100m in a strong display, clocking 10.70s.
The men’s 4x100m relay team took victory in a then-world lead and second fastest time by a British team in 37.60s as well as Lynsey Sharp in the 800m. Zharnel Hughes and Miguel Francis had good outings in the men’s 100m and 200m respectively going sub-10 and sub-20 seconds respectively. Jake Wightman also took third in a fantastically-fast Emsley Carr Mile.
Day One: Read More
Day Two: Read More
7) The British team took 17 medals, including four golds, as they finished ninth on the medal table at the World Para Athletics Junior Championships in Nottwil, Switzerland.
Zien Zhou took home two gold medals as he claimed the T33-34 100m and 200m titles, with Karim Chan also defending his title from 2017 with a 37cm personal best mark of 6.70m (2.0).
Fellow long jumper Barney Corrall earned his maiden world title in the T38 class in a then-personal best of 5.36m (-0.5).
8) Ben Williams’ triple jump lifetime best was the pick of the performances at the European Team Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland as the British team took fifth position overall.
Williams set a 40cm PB to move up to ninth on the all-time British list with a 17.14m leap, adding to Richard Kilty’s sprint double as he won the men’s 4x100m and 200m.
There were nine second place finishes for the British team, with Abigail Irozuru’s equal season’s best in the long jump of 6.75m earning her an IAAF World Championship standard and Daryll Neita’s 100m season’s best of 11.19s the pick of the bunch.
9) Dina Asher-Smith pushed Shaunae Miller-Uibo all the way in a fiery women’s 200m at the Müller Grand Prix Birmingham but found herself edged into second place by the Bahamian in 22.36s to 22.24s.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson produced the fourth best jump of her career to take third place in a scintillating women’s long jump contest. 6.85m saw her lose out on second to Ivana Spanovic on countback and she was a mere centimetre behind Belgium’s Nafi Thiam, who set a national record to win in 6.86m.
Sophie Hahn and Thomas Young both claimed victories in the T35-38 100m in the opening events of the day, with Lynsey Sharp and Adam Gemili both took second place in the women’s 800m and men’s 100m respectively.
10) Dina Asher-Smith was at it again as she revised the Müller British Championships record to win the women’s 100m in 10.96s
Ojie Edoburun produced one of the upsets of the British Championships as he stunned the Alexander Stadium for his maiden British title, clocking 10.18s and beating Zharnel Hughes and Adam Gemili in a photo finish to secure automatic selection for the IAAF World Championships in Doha.
Harry Coppell hit the 5.71m auto-qualifying mark in the men’s pole vault and took his first senior title with victory in another highlight from day one.
On day two, Callum Wilkinson broke the British 5000m race walking record as he cut the tape in 18:21.43 in the early day’s action, with Gemili breaking the championship record in the 200m, storming to victory in 20.08s.
Holly Bradshaw earned herself a seventh British title as she also put her name beside a new championship record, clearing 4.73m on her way to the victory and a spot on the plane to Doha.
11) There were victories aplenty for a number of Brits at the final leg of the World Para Athletics Grand Prix, with Thomas Young, Maria Lyle and Fabienne Andre kicking off day one with victories in the T38 100m, T35 100m and T33/34 100m respectively, while Kadeena Cox posted the fastest time of the T38 400m in 62.97s.
Day two’s performances were led by the return to the international T11 200m scene of Libby Clegg, who ran a season’s best of 28.89s for second spot in her heat. Andre made it two wins from two with T33/34 800m success, while Lydia Church claimed F11/20 shot put success with a last round 11.85m.
Share this:
