28 August 2014

It’s fair to say the Letzigrund Stadium will go down in British women’s sprinting history.

11 days on from breaking the British 4x100m record at the European Championships, a quartet of Asha Philip (coach: Christine Bowmaker), Ashleigh Nelson (Michael Afilaka),  Anyika Onuora (Rana Reider) and Desiree Henry (Reider) did it again. 

Running an incredible 42.21 eclipses the time of 42.25 set less than two weeks ago but amazingly, the previous record of 42.43 stood for 34 years! Great Britain & Northern Ireland also beat Jamaica and the USA to win the race outright to conclude proceedings at the penultimate IAAF Diamond League of the 2014 season.

“It’s amazing,” said Nelson, who finished 6th in the individual 100m earlier in the evening. “The girls are amazing. Just amazing."

In the eagerly anticipated men’s 100m A race, James Dasaolu (Steve Fudge) was third in a high calibre field, crossing the line in 10.06. The European champion said: "Today was about mixing it with the best sprinters in the world. I feel good."

Elsewhere Adam Gemili (Fudge) and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey were fifth and eighth respectively. In the B race, Chijindu Ujah (Jonas Tawiah-Dodoo) won the race, clocking a time of 10.16.

European gold medallists Martyn Rooney (Reider) and Tiffany Porter (Reider) couldn’t quite repeat their championship winning form. Despite a strong finish, Rooney had to settle for fourth in 45.10.

“It just didn’t happen today,” said the Croydon Harrier. “It was an opportunity to run a PB. I’ve got two big years to come."

12.72 earned Porter third spot behind Dawn Harper-Nelson and Sally Pearson.

Isobel Pooley (Fuzz Ahmed), the new British outdoor high record holder, wasn’t able to match her recent record breaking feats and bowed out of the competition after three failures at 1.93m. James Ellington (Reider) was eighth in the 200m and Andy Vernon (Nic Bideau) 18th in the 5000m.

Commonwealth Games and double European medallist Jade Jones (Ian & Tanni Grey-Thompson) was second in the women’s 2600m wheelchair race, an exhibition race at the meeting.

Full results can be found here: http://www.diamondleague-zurich.com/en/Results/Overview/