3 August 2009

With under two weeks until the start of the IAAF World Championships in Berlin Aviva GB&NI squad members prepared with performances in Europe, before they head out to the preparation camp in Portugal, while top club athletes competed on home soil with rankings in mind.

SWEDEN

DN Galan, Stockholm, July 31

Britain’s one-lap sprinters were in good form in the Swedish capital on Friday night. Current Pof10 leader Michael Bingham (Wake Forest) finished second in the men’s 400m to world champion Jeremy Wariner with a time of 45.49. World silver medallist Nicola Sanders (Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow) won the women’s 400m B race in 51.55 – her third consecutive victory on the European circuit.

Tom Lancashire (Bolton) ran the fastest 1000m time of the year and the 15^th fastest of all time by a Briton with a time of 2:17.63 to finish sixth. Hannah England (Oxford City) finished third in the women’s 1500m in 4:06.28, ahead of Steph Twell (Aldershot, Farnham & District), who was fourth in 4:06.35.

Olympic silver medallist Germaine Mason (Birchfield) was below-par in the men’s high jump with 2.20m for eighth place, while Michael Rimmer (Liverpool Pembroke Sefton) was sixth in the men’s 800m in 1:47.98.

GERMANY

Bayer Meeting, Leverkusen, July 31

Craig Pickering (Marshall Milton Keynes) was second in the men’s 100m in 10.22 (0.5m/s), his fastest wind-legal time of the year, having clocked 10.30 (1.2m/s) earlier in the heats.

UK record-holder Kate Dennison (Sale Harriers Manchester) was a solid third in the women’s pole vault with 4.45m, while former Olympic 200m finalist Abi Oyepitan (Shaftesbury Barnet) was third in the women’s 100m in a season’s best of 11.57 (0.8m/s).

Wattenscheid, Bochum, August 2

Pof10 leader Steven Lewis (Newham & Essex Beagles) appears to be rounding into form in perfect time for the World Championships after setting an outdoor pole vault PB of 5.72m, and defeating many of the leading German vaulters he will jump against at the World Championships.

In the sprints, Mark Lewis-Francis (Birchfield) ran 10.64 (1.2m/s) in the men’s 100m, while Abi Oyepitan (Shaftesbury Barnet) ran 11.81 (0.4m/s) and Jeanette Kwakye (Woodford Green with Essex Ladies) clocked 11.79 (0.4m/s) in the heats of the women’s 100m.

And at home…

BAL Premiership, Hendon, August 1

Mark Dry (Woodford Green with Essex Ladies) produced the best hammer throw for 13 years by an under-23 athlete. With an effort of 70.81m, Dry added more than a metre to his PB and shot to the top of this year’s Pof10 rankings. It also moves him to 18th on the UK all-time list. Simon Bown (Newham & Essex Beagles) also set a PB in second place with a throw of 68.67m.

Darren St Clair (Enfield & Haringey) smashed his 400m PB by more than one second with a time of 46.17 to go to 10th on this year’s Pof10 rankings. Kris Robertson (Shaftesbury Barnet) also improved his PB to 46.37 to move to 12th on the Pof10 rankings.

UK champion Luke Cutts (City of Sheffield) cleared 5.43m to win the pole vault, while Max Eaves (Newham & Essex Beagles) was second with 5.23m.

Emeka Udechuku (Woodford Green with Essex Ladies) set a season’s best of 59.23m to move to second on the Pof10 rankings. Abdul Buhari (Newham & Essex Beagles) was second with 58.52m.

UK Women’s League Division 1, Hendon, August 1

UK champion Zoe Derham (Birchfield) won the hammer with 65.21m, while Laura Douglas (Sale Harriers Manchester) threw 64.50m to go to No.6 on the UK all-time lists and cemented her Pof10 ranking at No.4 for 2009, and Susan McKelvie (Edinburgh) achieved her second best-ever throw of 61.21m in third.

European under-23 bronze medallist Jade Nicholls (Shaftesbury Barnet) won the discus with a PB of 54.47m. It was the first time in more than two years in which Nicholls defeated European under-23 champion Eden Francis (Birchfield), who threw 54.01m in second.

World junior 400m hurdles bronze medallist Meghan Beesley (Birchfield) stepped down to the sprint hurdles to set a PB of 13.75 into a strong -1.6ms wind to go to 13^th on the Pof10 rankings.

Celtic Games, Carmarthen, August 1

The women’s hammer throwers provided the best results. Toni Wells (Swansea) set a PB of 51.55m for the fourth-best throw ever by a British under-17 athlete, while Myra Perkins (Falkirk) added almost two metres to her PB to move from 14^thto fifth on the UK all-time junior hammer list. Her throw of 56.83m is also the second-best ever by a British 17-year-old.