18 July 2015

Great Britain and Northern Ireland added to their medal tally as Catherine Reid (coach: Di Shimell, club: Manx) bagged bronze in the 400m on a remarkable evening for the team at the IAAF World Youth Championships.

Reid crushed her previous best by almost a second as she produced the race of her life to reach the podium in 52.25 which moved her to joint-seventh on the 2015 UK senior rankings. Hannah Williams (Colin Gaynor,Herts Phoenix) also lowered her PB in the same race to 53.24 for a fantastic sixth place finish.

Reid has improved throughout the championships and showed outstanding ability as she dipped for the line to take her first global medal behind Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain who won the gold in a World Youth lead of 51.50.

In a fiercely quick race, a gobsmacked Reid said: “I was just desperate for a medal – I’ve been so hungry for it since the semi-final and I’m so happy that I have done it. My brother told me, run the first 200m hard because everything will come out in the last 200m and it did. I want to thank Matt (Wood – team coach) who has done so much for me on this trip and the British Athletics team, they have been amazing.

 “I was disappointed with my heat on Wednesday but so happy with everything since – I cannot wait to get on that podium,” said the athletes who competed at the Island Games for the Isle of Man a few weeks ago.

Williams has shown excellent progress over the last few days and after been handed a tricky draw in lane eight, she was delighted to set another PB, her third in three days and was equally happy for her roommate who stepped up to the rostrum.

She said, shocked: “I came 6^th? I can’t believe it! To come away with a PB is just amazing. I’m so happy for (Catherine); she wanted this so much. As I was in lane eight, I just went for it and it was just an amazing experience.”

James Gormley (John Wood, City of Sheffield) produced a determined display to finish fifth in the Boys 1500m after a scintillating final lap which saw him move up the field significantly. After sitting at the back of the pack over the first two laps, he made his move with 400m to go to finish in 3:48.31. The race was won by Kenya’s Kumari Taki in a Championship record of 3:36.38.

The Yorkshireman was absolutely delighted afterwards, saying: “Usually when I go out on the track I surprise myself but today I really can’t believe how well I have done. I decided to run from the back and work my way through and it just worked so well. I am chuffed to bits!”

He continued: “The last 200m was brilliant, it just opened up and I went straight down the middle – it was perfect. The atmosphere was such a shock from the heats, it is packed tonight. It was truly the best experience of my life. It means so much to me – I want to thank my coach John Wood who has helped me to get here.”

Ada’ora Chigbo (Ken Holmes, North Somerset) took a share of sixth place in the Girls High Jump. She had a clean card up to 1.79m but three failures at the height saw her eliminated from the competition but she demonstrated her potential against a strong field in Cali.

The youngest member of the team Jake Norris (Paul Dickenson, Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow) came of age in the Boys Hammer throw. He only turned 16 less than three weeks ago but finished seventh after a best in the first round of 72.58m.

The Girls heptathlon continued with British duo Niamh Emerson (David Feeney, Amber Valley) and Michelle Hughes (Tony Benton, Havering) starting the night in the shot put. Hughes saved her best to the final round when she threw 11.80m, 12cm off her best, whilst Emerson managed 10.16m. Hughes then returned for a personal best in the 200m, her second of the day, posting a time of 25.18 (-0.5) to stand on 3292 points on 14^th after four events. Emerson recorded 25.70 to finish the day one place further back on 15^th with 3283 points.

The Amber Valley athlete had earlier recorded PBs in the 100m hurdles (14.18) and high jump (1.79m) whilst Hughes ran the fastest 100m hurdles of her life to win her heat in 13.91 before a 1.64m leap in the high jump.

Carys McAulay (Philip Hicken, Warrington) ran a very patient and controlled race to secure her place in the Girls 800m final on Sunday. After two athletes fell at the 350m mark, the leading group became bunched and McAulay appeared to get boxed in. However, she maintained the inside line and consolidated third place in 2:08.70 to move through to Sunday’s final.

Earlier in the day, George Evans (Duncan Flockhart, Shaftesbury Barnet) and William Battershill (Kirk Salmon, Erme Valley) qualified for the Boys discus and 2000m steeplechase finals respectively.Toby Harries (Jon Bigg, Brighton Phoenix) and Cameron Tindle (Henry Gray, Edinburgh) progressing to the 200m semi-finals impressively. Additionally, Joel Leon Benitiez (Alan Richardson, Notts) made it to the Boys pole vault final but Naomi Ogebta (Tom Cullen, Trafford) narrowly missed out on a spot in the Girls triple jump final

Full results can be found here: http://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-youth-championships/9th-iaaf-world-youth-championships-2015-5408/timetable/byday

Highlights of day three can be found on British Eurosport 2 on Saturday 18 July – please check listing for broadcast times.

Medallists and Top 8 performers

Rechmial Miller – Boys 100m bronze

Catherine Reid – Girls 400m bronze

Oliver Bromby – Boys 100m fourth place

James Gormley – Boys 1500m fifth place

Hannah Brier – Girls 100m sixth place

Alicia Barrett – Girls 100m Hurdles sixth place

Hannah Williams – Girls 400m sixth place

Ada’ora Chigbo – Girls High Jump =sixth place

Jake Norris – Boys Hammer – seventh place