Four athletes were in action for the British team on the final day of the IAAF World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz this afternoon.

In the 100m hurdles final Alicia Barrett (coach: Toni Minichiello) smashed her personal best, set earlier in these championships with a new lifetime best of 13.15 (+0.2) as she finished sixth in the final. This puts her second in the women’s U20 UK all-time list behind Yasmin Miller. The Chesterfield athlete has set a new personal best in each round in Bydgoszcz showing her consistency throughout the championships.

She was absolutely delighted, “I am so happy I can’t believe I have just done that. It is lovely to have a happy tear.  Everything went to plan.  I don’t think I hit a hurdle.  I am very proud, even though I was beaten by a fifteen year old!”

In the final track event with British interest Bobby Clay (Rob Denmark) and Harriet Knowles-Jones (Paul Roden) were in action in the 1500m.  Clay, Invitica East Kent AC, was seventh in 4:13.09 having led for much of the race. She took to the front from the gun to push the pace and stay out of trouble and it was only with 300m to go that she slipped back in the field.

Afterwards she reflected, “I wanted to make an honest race out of it. I knew they would be coming but I had to have a go and it could have paid off. I knew no-one else was going to drag it out so I had to take it on.  It is all experience and if I practise dragging it out then maybe one day I won’t be vulnerable. I will keep working on it.  I was safer where I was. Will I change what I did?  Probably not but I will replay and see how I did and learn from it.  It is all experience.”

Warrington AC’s Knowles-Jones came in eighth with a new personal best of 4:15.49. After the race she paid tribute to Clay for her front running tactics in the race.

She said, “I am massively proud of Bobby.  She went for it and it is annoying because people just sit on her back. It wasn’t my best race but I am delighted to have made the final and finish eighth in the world.”

In the discus final George Evans (Colin McCulloch) unfortunately suffered three no throws so was eliminated before the final round.  Afterwards the eighteen year old Inverness Harrier said “I came here to get to the final and did that.  I planned to really go for it so it was always going to go really, really well or not well at all and unfortunately today it didn’t go my way.  But I have had a fantastic experience at these championships and I am still a junior next year so I will learn from this going forward.”

Today’s two personal bests contributed to 14 in total throughout the Championships and British Athletics Team Leader, Jo Summers, said “I could not be prouder of the team here in Bydgoszcz.  To come and compete against the best in the world, with the exceptionally high standards, and come away with 14 new personal bests, compete in 20 finals and win one gold medal is a tremendous achievement.  This is a young team who will learn and grow from their experiences here.”  

British medals at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz

Gold

Callum Wilkinson           10k Race Walk