14 September 2007

Weekend Round- Up, 7- 9 September

Jo Jackson (Redcar RWC) has moved to the number one position in the Power of 10 rankings for the women’s 10km race walk. The position promotion comes after her win at Earls Colne last Sunday, with a time of 47.49 secs. Lisa Kehler (Wolverhampton & Bilston) and Anne Loughnane (Ireland) came second and third resectively.

Other News…

Steph Twell (Aldershot, Farnham and District AC), the 18-year-old European Junior Cross Country Champion, will never forget the day Asafa Powell (Jamaica) lowered his world 100m record to 9.74 seconds.

For at the same IAAF World Athletics Tour meeting in Rieti, Italy, Twell enhanced her reputation as the outstanding UK Junior of the last 12 months by lowering her 1500m best to 4:06.70, beating the A-standard qualifying time for the Olympic Games to be staged in Beijing next year.

The amazing PB, 4.01 seconds quicker than her previous best in Spain in June, lifts her to third in this year’s Power of 10 senior rankings even though she will still be an Under 20 next year. The only UK athletes to have run faster are Helen Clitheroe (Preston Harriers), 4:05.81 indoors in Stockholm in February, and Commonwealth Champion Lisa Dobriskey (Ashford AC and Loughborough Students), 4:06.22 at the Bislett Games in Oslo in June.

Twell’s delighted coach, Mick Woods, Performance Coach at the UK Athletics Endurance Performance Centre at St Mary’s University Twickenham, said: “Steph had run an 800m PB of 2:06.15 at the BMC meeting at Watford on Wednesday night so we knew she was in shape to run quick. But I felt the Olympic qualifying time was a little bit out of reach.

“This morning she went to the stadium after breakfast because she always likes to have a good look round any new venue. She had a 10-minute jog, loved the view of the mountains surrounding the stadium, and just knew she was going to run well.

“Everything went to plan. Because it was such a quality field, I said, ‘Just go straight to the back of the field’. We knew she could not afford to run the first lap in less than 65/66 seconds. She ran it in precisely that, went through 800m in 2:11/2:12 and 1200m in 3:18. We banked on people coming back to her and she passed five people on the last lap, and covered the final 300m in 48 seconds.”

Among the athletes she overtook was Norwich Union World Trials winner Katrina Wootton (Bedford and County AC), who finished 11^th in 4:08.10 in the race, won by former World Champion Olga Yegorova (Russia) in 4:03.27.

Twell said of her race: “The first lap felt like a dream, it was so easy. I’ve never felt so comfortable in a race in my life. It was awesome. I loved it. But I couldn’t believe the time.”

Twell, who won the 1500m silver medal at the European Junior Championships in July is now the leading European Junior for this season over 1500m, 3000m and 5000m – and looking forward to defending her European Junior Cross Country title in December.

Woods added: “Some friends wondered whether she should be racing this late in the track season, but there was no point her wasting all that fitness.”

Of other UK athletes in Rieti…

Marilyn Okoro (Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers) won the 800m B race in 2:00.66 with Becky Lyne (Hallamshire Harriers Sheffield) third on her return from injury in 2:01.05. The times were the sixth- and eighth-fastest in two races. The winner of the A race, World Champion Janeth Jepkosgei (Kenya) clocked 1:56.29.

Tasha Danvers-Smith (Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers) clocked 55.03 for second place in the 400m hurdles, won by Anna Jesien (Poland) in 54.78.

Rob Tobin (Basingstoke and Mid Hants AC) was fifth in 46.41 seconds in the 400m won by Tyler Christopher (Canada) in 44.94.

Michael Rimmer (Liverpool Pembroke and Sefton AC) was eighth in 1:45.36 in the 800m won by Belal Mansoor Ali (Brunei) in 1:44.02.

Chris Tomlinson (Newham and Essex Beagles) long jumped 7.89m for fifth place in a competition won by Irving Saladino (Panama) with a massive 8.31m.

Emma Ania (Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers was fifth in the women’s 100m in 11.46 seconds, 0.16sec behind winner Sally McLellan (Australia).

Joice Maduaka (Woodford Green with Essex Ladies) was seventh in 23.30m in the 200m, won by Laurin Williams (USA) in 22.76.

Hatti Dean (Hallamshire Harriers Sheffield) got to within a couple of seconds of her UK 3000m steeplechase record in finishing fifth in 9:40.64 in a race won by Yekaterina Volkova (Russia) in 9:26.80. Clitheroe was sixth in 9:44.38, a PB by 0.84sec.

For all of the Rieti results, please click here

UK Challenge Final 100m winner Leevan Yearwood (Victoria Park Harriers and Tower Hamlets AC) clocked 10.37 seconds for third place at an international meeting in Wusterhausen, Germany. He was given the same time as runner-up Mickey Grimes (USA) in a race won by Matic Osovnikar (Slovenia) in 10.28.

European Under 23 silver medallist Montell Douglas (Blackheath and Bromley AC) was second in both sprints in 11.40 and 23.38 seconds – and Donna Fraser (Croydon Harriers) third in 11.84 and 23.83 – behind Anim Vida (Ghana), who won in 11.33 and 23.33.

For all the results from Wusterhausen please click here