Novuna GB & NI top European U18 Athletics Championship medal table

The Novuna Great Britain & Northern Ireland (GB & NI) U18 team added a further seven medals to their tally on the final day of the European U18 Athletics Championships to finish top of the medal table.

Golds went to Tito Odunaike (Club: Marshall Milton Keynes, Coach: David Johnson), Lucy Bull (Cheltenham and County Harriers, Carolyn Franks) and Freddie Rowe (Havering AC, Patrick Gahagan).

Alistair Street (Kilbarchan AAC, John Rodger) and Ned Scott (Winchester & District AC, Bronwin Carter) bagged silver, while Oliver Downs (Invicta East Kent AC, Alex Pope) and Lucia Bertacchini (Winchester & District AC, Andrew Fisher) took home bronze.​

Odunaike set a championship record on the way to men’s triple jump gold with a huge leap of 16.12m, more than half a metre clear of his nearest challenger, equalling his personal best and the world U18 lead.

Bull smashed her PB with a best throw of 56.60m to take women’s javelin gold, while Rowe stormed home in the men’s 1500m with a time of 3:55.33.

Rowe was followed in closely by 1500m teammate Street, who turned the race into a British one-two, finishing second in 3:56.80.

Scott threw a huge 70.02m to take men’s javelin to claim silver, and Bertacchini ran brilliantly in the women’s 400m hurdles to take bronze in 58.13.

Downs then capped off the day in a gritty decathlon 1500m performance to take bronze with a National Record points total of 7341.

Downs was followed closely behind by Douglas Knox (Springburn Harriers, Alasdair Strange), who finished the 10 events with a personal best of 7255.

There were strong performances throughout the day elsewhere. Leila Newth (Ealing Southall & Middlesex AC, David Johnson) set two national U18 triple jump records on the way to a fourth-placed finish with a best attempt of 13.16m.

Poppy Guest (Aldershot Farnham & District, Mick Woods) and Sonny Allen (Highgate Harriers, Errol Peak) ran hard in a lightning-quick women’s 3000m final to finish fifth and sixth. Guest clocked 9:33.84, with Allen just behind in 9:34.50.

Shivelle Marshall (Croydon Harriers, Paul Weston), Holly Ryan (Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers, Ty Holden), Darcy Coslett (Llanelli AC, Rhys Williams) and Bertacchini ran an excellent 1000m medley relay, finishing fourth in 2:07.59, though the men’s team received a disqualifcation.

Jorjia March (Chelmsford AC, John Clarke) ran hard in the women’s 800m final to come home eighth in 2:07.84. Isabella Moulton (Woodford Green AC with Essex Ladies, Tony Jarrett) clocked 13.80 in the women’s 100m hurdles semi-finals and Alessia Scala (Blackheath & Bromley Harriers AC, John Bancroft) cleared 1.70m in the women’s high jump final to finish 11th.