12th July 2019

BROMBY & FILLERY CLAIM MEDALS ON SECOND NIGHT OF EUROPEAN UNDER-23S

Oliver Bromby (Southampton) and Cameron Fillery (Michael Baker; Woodford Green & Essex Ladies) claimed 100m silver and 110m hurdles bronze respectively as the British team surged once again at the European Under-23 Championships in Gavle.

Bromby, a bronze medallist in the men’s 100m at the European Junior Championships two years ago, continued his fine form from the earlier rounds in Sweden, finishing strongly in the final to upgrade to silver just outside his personal best in 10.24.

Fillery also looked good through the rounds in the men’s 110m hurdles in Gavle and had his crowning moment in the final as he clocked 13.64 – after a 13.60 personal best in the semi-final – to grab bronze at the line and take the British medal tally for the Championships to three.

Elsewhere European finalist from Berlin last year, Naomi Ogbeta (Trafford; Tom Cullen) was the best of the other British finalists on the second night but finished an agonising fourth in the women’s triple jump while Julia Paternain (Cambridge & Coleridge; Mark Vile) battled to sixth in the women’s 10,000m.

Toby Harries (Brighton Phoenix) was the most impressive of the British qualifiers, comfortably winning his heat in the men’s 200m and still clocking the quickest time overall, 20.86, going into the semi-finals.

Bromby didn’t get off to the best start in the men’s 100m final – that was teammate Dominic Ashwell (Marvin Rowe; Shaftesbury Barnet) – but he grew into the race and surged through to take silver at the line in 10.24, his equal second quickest time ever.

Ashwell looked in contention after a great start but was to place sixth in 10.37. Bromby got quicker with each race going from 10.83 to 10.49 to his silver medal-winning 10.24 – never outside the top two through his campaign in Gavle.

Upgrading his European junior bronze from 2017, Bromby said: “I didn’t get the best start but the best part of my race is the last 40m. I knew I had a medal once I crossed the line but I had no clue which one it was. I nearly fell over at the end if I’m honest.

“It is a great feeling. Two years ago, I won bronze at the European under-20s, so it is nice to go one up from that and get a silver. The 100m has been brilliant here, I have been running really well this year. I have moved training groups, I’m based in London now at SpeedWorks, and it has been a big step.”

After a personal best of 13.60 to win his semi-final in the men’s 110m hurdles and qualify for the final, Fillery lived up to his ranking and dug deep and fought his way to bronze in 13.64 – like Bromby, the second quickest time of his career.

James Weaver (Enfield & Haringey; Laura Turner-Alleyne) joined Fillery in the final and clocked 13.92 for seventh while the third of the Brits, Tade Ojora (Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow; Caryl Smith-Gilbert), was unfortunately disqualified in the semi-finals. For Fillery his bronze was the result of two years hard work.

He said: “Two years ago at European juniors I went out in the semi-final and that was a tough one to take. Ever since then I have been working hard, putting the hours in, anything to make this moment happen and here it goes, it has happened.

“I knew it was close and I am happy to get third. It is the best feeling, I have seen so many people have the British flag around them and I have always wanted that to happen and it finally has – it is a great feeling.”

Ogbeta endured a rollercoaster final in the women’s triple jump, in the medals after a second round 13.57m before falling out and jumping back in during the final round with a 13.64m. That put Ogbeta in bronze-medal position with three jumpers left but Turkey’s Tugba Danismaz responded with a 13.85m with her final attempt that pushed her to second and the Brit to fourth.

In the women’s 10,000m final Paternain was effectively running for bronze for much of the race with Germany’s Alina Reh going off alone for gold and teammate Miriam Dettke doing the same for silver.

Paternain was with the bronze group until the closing stages and didn’t quite have the kick for bronze, finishing sixth in 33:51.31. She said: “I didn’t want to go off with them because I know 10,000m is a long way to go. I was trying to keep as relaxed as I could.

“I am pleased with it. I wanted to put myself up there to try and win a medal. It didn’t quite work out but I savoured it until the last 800m. I just need to work on my kick a bit more. This is my first time racing for Great Britain and it was a huge honour to put the vest on. It has been something I have been working really hard for for a long time so I am happy and feel like I did myself justice.”

There was also agony in the men’s long jump final – the first medal showdown of the day involving Brits – for Jacob Fincham-Dukes (Leeds City; Zivile Pukstiene) as he was bumped out of eighth place, and a further three jumps, by the final competitor in the third round.

Fincham-Dukes was sat eighth after a best of 7.56m, with more left, however Estonian Hans-Christian Hausenberg’s 7.86m to complete round three, knocked him down to ninth. He was joined in the final by teammate Reynold Banigo (Lukasz Zawila), who jumped a best of 7.45m with his final attempt for 11th.

Harries (Brighton Phoenix) left the field in his trail in his men’s 200m heat, cruising home with 60m to go such was his start, clocking 20.86 for victory and first overall. Teammate and trials winners Shemar Boldizsar (Harlow; Vincent Lawrence) was almost as comfortable, looking around with 80m to go and significantly dropping down to clock 20.96 for second in his 200m heat and sixth overall.

Harries said: “It was a good race – I basically did what my coach told me to do. I just kept going up until 120-150m, then had a look around, and made sure my posture was good. I just had to relax and execute.”

European indoor fourth placer from back in March, Kristal Awuah (Herne Hill; Matthew Thomas) also qualified out of the women’s 200m heats, ninth quickest overall with 23.88. Cameron Chalmers (Guernsey; James Hillier) wasn’t happy with his run in the second of the two 400m semi-finals as he was pipped into first place but his 46.39 ranked him third overall and an automatic qualifier, just 0.05 off the quickest time.

Lily Beckford (Shaftesbury Barnet; Linford Christie) finished fourth in the second of three heats in the women’s 400m, meaning she had to wait to see if her 54.65 would be enough for a fastest loser spot into the final but it ranked her narrowly outside.

Action continues tomorrow from 09:30 BST. The timetable for the championships can be found via https://bit.ly/2JurM5T.

British Athletics medal tally (3):

Silver

Oliver Bromby – Men’s 100m

Bronze

Cameron Fillery – Men’s 110m Hurdles

Emile Cairess – Men’s 10,000m