22 August 2014

With two days to go until the Sainsbury’s Birmingham Grand Prix, the crème de la crème of British Athletics assembled at the Alexander Stadium to address the media for the first time since the European Championships.

Mo Farah (coach: Alberto Salazar) was in high spirits after his gold medal winning exploits, as he gears up to race over two miles on Sunday afternoon. He will again go head to head with fellow Briton Andy Vernon, who made a huge breakthrough in Zurich winning silver and bronze behind Farah in the 10,000m and 5,000m respectively.

“I was so motivated and wanted to do it. I was so fired up after the 10k and I knew I had to do the double and make history. I’m very easily motivated; I love the sport and I love training so when I take time off I realise how much I miss it. That feeling drives me on.

“I think I’m at top of my game and I don’t know how long I’m going to stay there! But I’m in a good place and believe over the next couple of years I will continue to do well.”

After winning silver at her home Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Lynsey Sharp (Rana Reider) travelled to Zurich with a new level of confidence, which was clear as she breezed through the qualification rounds. Lining up in the final, the Scot employed the same front running tactics she had used in the rounds to smash her lifetime best with a 1.58.80 performance and bag another silver medal.

“After the race when I was sitting on the ground, I hadn’t seen the time yet and I was a little bit gutted. But then I turned to look at the screen and I was like ‘wow’! I never expected to run that and I gave it my all – it wasn’t like I was running for a time or chasing the Scottish record.”

It has been a year beyond Sharp’s wildest dreams, as having suffered achilles problems in the winter, she opened her season with a 2.06 clocking in America in May. Since then though her form improved on almost a weekly basis but she admits that what she has achieved still hasn’t quite sunk in.

“I still don’t think I’ve realised that I’ve won two medals! I’ve done two champs and won medals at both; when I’m done racing in a few weeks’ time I think I’ll realise how special it’s been.”

Two of the biggest breakthrough acts of 2014 were also present, returning to the UK with two medals each from a memorable European Championships where Great Britain & Northern Ireland topped the medal table with a record 23 medals.

Matthew Hudson-Smith (Tony Hadley) was an unknown name at the start of 2014, despite having won bronze over 200m at the European Junior Championships in Rieti last summer. But making a step up in distance to run the one lap event has been the best decision of the young Birmingham man’s life, as he lowered his personal best to 44.75 to win silver at the European Championships. His fastest time for six years was what it took for compatriot Martyn Rooney to hold off the youngster, who admits he looks up to Rooney in more than one way.

Hudson-Smith went on to link up with his childhood hero Rooney in the 4x400m final, and thanks to strong legs by the pair they came out victorious, adding to the gold medal the nineteen year old won in the 4x400m at Glasgow 2014. Ahead of Sunday’s race, the Birchfield youngster admitted it is still strange racing against his idol Rooney, but insisted that Rooney and Olympic champion Kirani James are the type of company he wants to be amongst when he takes to the track.

“Because I took a gap year I’ve just been watching Kirani on my computer. I’ve always watched their races and now I’m racing against them. It’ll be weird but it will be fun. I’m hoping I step up to the challenge.

“I’ve talked to Kirani and he knows who I am now, which was kind of the plan of the year, to make sure Kirani James and Leshawn Merritt know who I am. I hope he remembers me or when I race him I do a good job so he’ll remember me even more.”

When asked if one of his short term goals was to become British number one, the youngster added:

“It would be nice to be British number one but that’s not the aim. The aim is to be the best in the world.”

Ashleigh Nelson (Michael Afilaka) is the second of these rising stars, leaping into the limelight as she won 100m bronze in Zurich. Second at the British Championships in June, Nelson ran within four hundredths of a second in every round, including a personal best of 11.19 to secure he first major individual medal. She wasn’t done there though, as she ran leg two for the GB & NI 4x100m team that smashed the British record to win gold.

Now, back at home in the midlands, Nelson is ready to get stuck into Diamond League action:

“It is always nice to come back to the midlands and put on a show for the home crowd. The Alexander stadium has been a big part of my growth in my athletics. It’s always nice to come back and now to come back as European bronze medallist is a nice bit of icing on the cake!”

On the Sainsbury’s Summer Series, Nelson added:

“It’s a great achievement for British Athletics and Sainsbury’s to bring all the athletes over and make sure that actually we do get a taste of what it’s like to race with people who we would say are the world’s best athletes.”