19 May 2013

Blue skies and sunshine made for favourable conditions at the Paula Radcliffe Stadium, which once again played host to the Loughborough International on Sunday 19 May. Dina Asher-Smith’s performance over 200m was the highlight of the day from a GB Junior perspective, with the John Blackie coached athlete clocking 23.14 to go fourth on the British junior all-time list and clock the fastest time by a European junior this year. Her run was so impressive that despite running a personal best, London 2012 Olympian Emily Diamond (coach: Jared Deacon) had to settle for second place.

After her world leading performance at Watford on Wednesday night, Jess Judd (Rob Denmark) again impressed clocking her second fastest time ever, running 2.00.71 to take the win in the women’s 800m. Judd, who led from gun to tape, will have her eyes firmly fixed on a gold medal at the European Junior Championships in Rieti, Italy in July.

Elsewhere there were lifetime bests for Lucy Bryan (Charles Preston) who jumped 4.35m in the women’s pole vault, the highest ever by a 17 year old, and  Yasmin Miller (Jared Deacon) who ran 13.45 in the 100mH, the fastest since Jessica Ennis in 2005, both of which earned them victories on the day.

Rounding out a record 6 victories for GB& NI juniors were Shadine Duquemin (John Hillier) who threw a personal best of 51.48m in the Discus, and Morgan Lake (Eldon Lake) who also won the match HJ with a jump of 1.81m, just short of her personal best, meaning the GB junior women’s team took the match victory.

On the men’s side, Jack Phipps (Nick Phipps) was the sole winner on the GB Junior team, vaulting 4.80m to win the men’s pole vault. There were however a host of European Junior Championship qualifying marks recorded, which bodes well as we head towards the England Athletics U20 Championships and European Trials in Bedford on the June 15/16.

There were numerus other notable performances on the day, namely Rhys Williams (Adrian Thomas) who stormed to a 48.90 clocking in the 400mH, which extends his advantage at the top of the Powerof10. Perri Shakes-Drayton (Chris Zah) clocked an outdoor personal best of 50.98 with a commanding victory in the 400m, whilst Eilish McColgan (Liz McColgan) raced over 1500m, taking the victory in 4.09.67, a new personal best that puts her second on the Powerof10.

In the men’s 200m, Nigel Levine (Linford Christie) won the match race in 20.86; however it was Andrew Robertson (Daniel Cossins) who clocked the fastest time of the day, running a huge personal best of 20.76 in the guest race. In the field, Tom Parsons (Aston Moore) jumped 2.28m to go top of the UK outdoor rankings, whilst Sophie Hitchon (Tore Gustafaaon) once again recorded a throw in excess of 70 metres in the women’s hammer, recording a mark just one centimetre shy of her season’s best. Parsons’ 2.28m and Hitchon’s 70.52m were both IAAF World Championship B standards.

Full results: http://www.thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=78167

Video coverage: http://goo.gl/gWpLI