16th July 2016

Talbot Off To Promising Start In Tbilisi

16 July 2016 

After seeing his multi-event teammate Niamh Emerson (coach: David Feeney) win bronze in the heptathlon yesterday, Sam Talbot (Eldon Lake) got his decathlon campaign off to a flying start on day three of the European Youth Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia.

The 17 year old raced to an 11.00 personal best in the 100m, which saw him claim 861 points but there were nervy moments for Talbot after two fouls in the long jump. However, the British U18 record holder kept calm and composed as he leapt out to 7.05m to top the standings for his second event. The former Exeter Chiefs rugby player concluded the morning session with a season’s best throw of 12.80m in the shot put, leaving him in third place overall on 2342 points going into this afternoon’s high jump and 400m.  

It was mixed fortunes in the long jump as Holly Mills (James Coney) qualified for the final, but teammate Eleanor Broome (Ian Roberts) agonisingly missed out by one centimetre. Mills secured her berth jumping 6.12m in the second round, but unfortunately Broome’s best leap of 5.89m just wasn’t enough to make it through to tomorrow’s final.

Mills, who won bronze at the recent British Championships said: “I’m happy – I wanted to jump further and get the automatic qualifying (6.20m), but it was a case of getting used to the runway because it’s so fast.

“My last jump was so big, but a no jump, so we’ll have to save that for the final. From my original marker, I’ve already gone back six or seven pigeon steps, which is a lot, so I may have to go back a few more for the final,” Mills explained. 

With the weather soaring to 32 degrees Celsius, Pembrokeshire’s James Tomlinson (Paul Jenson) managed to secure his place in the discus final with a best throw of 57.46m and was delighted to progress given the challenging conditions in the field this morning.    

“Given that no one hit the qualification in the pool, which tells you what the conditions are like because there were some great throws out there. To finish fourth overall means I’m really optimistic for the final.

“The weather can take metres off the discus, so if the wind is good for the final we could see some good throws, which would be really fun. The aim is to throw out of my skin and we’ll see how it goes.”

British medals at the European Youth Championships, Tbilisi, Georgia:

Silver:

Jake Norris (hammer)

Bronze:

Niamh Emerson (heptathlon)

Lucy Pygott (3000m)