28 June 2011

World Junior Champion and European number one Jodie Williams (coach: Mike McFarlane) is one of 23 athletes selected to represent the Aviva Great Britain and Northern Ireland junior team at the 18th Bauhaus Junioren Gala in Mannheim, Germany on 2-3 July.

Williams, who won the 100m/200m sprint double at the recent Aviva England Under-20 Championships, has already achieved the required qualifying standards for the European Junior Championships and will line up in three events this weekend – including the relay – as she finalises her preparations for the event in mid-July.

She’s currently ranked number one in Europe in the 100m with a season’s best of 11.34 and second in the 200m with 23.55, that second-placed European ranking matched by David Bolarinwa (coach: John Powell) in the 100m – who is ranked third over 200m – and Andy Pozzi (coach: Malcolm Arnold) in the 110mH.

Bolarinwa, who won World School Games 100m silver in 2009, had an outstanding year in 2010 winning 100m gold and 200m silver in the Youth Olympic Games European Trials, going on to clinch bronze in the 100m in the Youth Olympic Games. He will concentrate on the 200m and relay this weekend with his season’s best of 21.27 achieved with victory in Sunday’s European Junior Championships Trials.

Pozzi, the UK junior record holder for the 60mH indoors and Aviva GB & NI representative at the 2009 World Youth Championships, is the current UK 110mH rankings age-group lead with a lifetime best mark of 13.61 recorded at the Midland Championships earlier this month.

“Mannheim, with a focus on sprints, relays and field events, has become a key fixture in our preparation for the annual under-20 Championships,” said Aviva GB & NI Team Leader Kevin Tyler.

“The athletes will face high class opposition – particularly in some of the field events – so, in line with our policy, we have selected only athletes we believe have the potential to medal at the European Junior Championships and who will benefit, we hope, from exposure to international competition experience.”

AVIVA GB & NI TEAM

MEN

100m: Adam Gemili (John Blackie) – Blackheath & Bromley; 200m: David Bolarinwa (John Powell) – Newham & Essex Beagles; 110mH: Jack Meredith (Donald Moss) – Liverpool Harriers; Andy Pozzi (Malcolm Arnold) – Stratford; 4 x 100m: Bolarinwa; Gemili; Judah Simpson (Keith Bullock) – Derby; Emmanuel Stephens (Julien Golding) – Thurrock; Dannish Walker-Khan (Linford Christie) – Birchfield; Sam Watts (Gladys Bird) – Woodford Green with Essex Ladies

WOMEN

100m: Marilyn Nwawulor (Harry King) – Harrow; Jodie Williams (Mike McFarlane) – Herts Phoenix; 200m: Williams; 400m: Lucy James (Nick Dakin) – Bedford; Kirsten McAslan (Trevor Painter) – East Cheshire; 400mH: Megan Southwart (Colin Bovell) – Blackheath & Bromley; 4 x 100m: Jennie Batten (Roger Walters) – Stroud; Mica Moore (Lawrence Moore) – Cardiff; Nwawulor; Annie Tagoe (Connie Henry) – Thames Valley; Bianca Williams (Lloyd Cowan) – Enfield & Haringey; Jodie Williams; 4 x 400m: Amelia Clifford (Michael Coker) – Southampton; James; Katie Kirk (Mark Kirk) – Lagan Valley; McAslan; Southwart; High Jump: Emma Nuttall (Laurier Primeau) – Edinburgh AC; Pole Vault: Katie Byres (Julien Raffalli) – Sale Harriers Manchester; Javelin: Izzy Jeffs (Simon de Wilton) – North Devon; Hammer: Myra Perkins (Alan Bertram) – Falkirk