Thursday 21 November

Former British 800m champion Mark Sesay has passed away at the age of just 40.

The Leeds City athlete, who retired from competitive athletics a decade ago, died yesterday morning following a long illness.

Sesay, who had a young daughter, competed for Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the 1999 World Championships in Seville and was crowned national 800m champion in the same year.

He had a personal best of 1:45.68 and held the British under 17 record with a time of 1:49.9, a record that was only broken this year.

Our thoughts go out to his family and friends at this difficult time.