NOVUNA GB & NI LIGHT UP ON DAY ONE OF THE ULTIMATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Novuna GB & NI athletes delivered impressive performances on the opening evening of the World Athletics Ultimate Championships.

The evening got underway with the highly anticipated mixed 4x100m relay, where the Novuna GB & NI quartet finished third in a blisteringly fast contest. The USA claimed the inaugural title, with Jamaica in second. The newly crowned European Champion, Romell Glave, got the team off to a strong start, handing over to Imani-Lara Lansquiot, who powered down the back straight and passed to Jeremiah Azu, who attached the bend to pass the baton to Success Eduan for the final 100m, crossing the line in 40.26.

In the women’s long jump, Jazmin Sawyers had a brilliant competition, finishing second under the Budapest lights. After opening her competition with a no-jump, Sawyers jumped 6.59 to land her in fourth.

The competition featured a new knockout format introduced by World Athletics, with the bottom two athletes eliminated after the second round and a further two after round three, leaving the top four to contest the final jump.

The Stoke athlete saved her best for last, soaring out to 6.78m in the fourth round to move into second place, finishing behind Lapichino (ITA), who claimed victory with 6.90m.

European silver medallist and British record holder, Keely Hodgkinson comfortably front-ran her semi-final, pulling away in the last 300m to cross the line in 1:57.57 to take her through into tomorrow evening’s final, where she will join Broeders-Bol (NED) and Werro (SUI), who both qualified in the second semi-final.

Matthew Hudson-Smith also safely advanced to the men’s 400m final. The British record holder stormed out of the blocks commanding the opening 200m, coming into the last 100m in the lead. He was narrowly caught on the line by Pattison (USA) to take second place with a time of 44.49 and safely through to the final.

Yemi Mary John, who finished fifth at the European Championships earlier this season, finished fifth with a time of 50.38 in her semi-final, just missing out on a spot in the women’s 400m final by 0.04 seconds, finishing a very respectable ninth overall.