31 May 2016

Hypomeeting, Gotzis, Austria, 28-29 May

Katarina Johnson-Thompson (coach: Mike Holmes) completed her first heptathlon since the World Championships in Beijing last year, and she made light work of securing the Olympic Games qualifying mark.

After running a 100mH personal best of 13.37 (+1.1m/s) to win the first event, the Liverpool Harrier ran a 200m personal best of 22.79 (1.3) to end the first day in second.

Starting day two with modest performances in the long jump and javelin, the European Indoor Pentathlon Champion still only need to jog round the 800m in 2.16.81 to secure the Olympic mark and finish sixth overall.

In the men’s event it was agony for Ashley Bryant (Aston Moore), as in his first decathlon since 2014 he missed the Olympic qualifying standard by just 44 points, despite running a 1500m personal best. His score of 8056 was less than 100 points shy of his personal best set at this meeting two years ago.

Results: https://meeting-goetzis.at/

Prefontaine Classic IAAF Diamond League, Eugene, USA, 27-28 May

Mo Farah (Alberto Salazar) once again reigned supreme over 10,000m, taking victory under the Friday night lights in an impressive 26.53.71, to show he’s on track to defend his Olympic crown in Rio.  

Perhaps the best British performance of the meeting came on the Saturday though, as Charlie Grice (Jon Bigg) won the domestic mile in a new personal best of 3.52.64 to beat a quality field by some margin. Laura Weightman (Steve Cram) was also impressive in the women’s 1500m, as she ran a season opener of 4.03.04 for sixth place.

Lorraine Ugen (Shawn Jackson) was the best of the Brits in the field as she took third in a world class long jump competition with a best effort of 6.76 (1.4).

Results: http://www.iaaf.org/results/diamond-league-meetings/2016/prefontaine-classic-5850

IPC Athletics Grand Prix, Nottwil, Switzerland, 26-29 May

Shelby Watson (Ian Mirfin) set four world records in the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m; clocking bests of 19.89, 35.04, 1:10.15 and 2:22.85 respectively.

Hannah Cockroft (Jenni Banks) bagged a number of wins over the weekend, wioth 17.41 in the 100m, close to her personal best and world record. In the T53 category, Samantha Kinghorn (Ian Mirfin) amassed PBs across 100m, 200, 400m and 800m with 16.62 in the shortest of the three on an impressive few days for the Scottish athlete.

It was a good day for Isaac Towers (Peter Wyman) as he raced to a couple of personal bests, with fourth in the T34 200m in 29.69 and third in the 400m in 54.18. There was also a swift 400m personal best of 46.50 for Richard Chissaro (Banks) as he finished second in the T54 event and he added another lifetime best in the 800m, setting a time of 1:33.07.

In the T54 1500m, Jade Jones (Ian Thompson) finished fifth in a personal best performance of 3.24.46.

Laura Sugar (Femi Akinsanya) continued her recent good form with a season’s best over 100m, winning the T44 event in 13.61 (0.9) and clocked another PB in the 200m, 28.26.

Kinghorn backed that up with a personal best over 400m, winning in a swift 55.27, whilst there was also a PB for Richard Chiassaro (Banks), third in the T54 400 in 47.04.

Jade Jones (Thompson) backed up a T54 400m season’s best of 57.96 with an 800m personal best of 1.50.26, whilst 20 year old Isaac Towers (Wyman) was runner-up in a PB of 3.21.14.

Results: http://powerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=172454

Results: http://powerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=172675

BMC Grand Prix, Watford, 28 May

The women’s 800m stole the show as Adelle Tracey (Winrow) led a trio of women to an Olympic qualifying standard. Setting a season’s best of 2.01.24, she beat Alex Bell (Aaron Thomas) who set a new lifetime best of 2.01.32 and Jenny Meadows (Trevor Painter) who crossed the line in 2.01.39.

Jake Wightman (Geoff Wightman) was almost as impressive in the men’s equivalent, as he set a personal best of 1.47.13 to take victory by a full second. Second place went to youngster Daniel Rowden (Richard Thurston), who’s 1.48.13 time was inside the World Junior Championship mark. In the B race, Markhim Lonsdale (David Lowes) ran 1.49.07, a European Youth standard.

There were further European Youth 800m standards for Sabrina Sinha (Peter Mullervy), Isobelle Boffey (Douglas Stone) and Khahisa Mhlanga (Mick Judd) who clocked 2.05.48, 2.06.83 and 2.07.61 respectively. Archie Rayner (Joel Kidger) and Erin Wallace (Dudley Walker) also clocked 1500m standards of 3.49.73 and 4.20.63 respectively.

Steve Morris (James Thie) warmed up for next month’s IPC Athletics European Championships with a lifetime best in the 1500m, recording a time of 3:58.19.

Results: http://powerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=167773&pagenum=1

Vitality London 10000 and Westminster Mile, London, 29-30 May

David Weir (Jenny Archer) became the wheelchair athlete to go sub-3 minutes for a mile. His time of 2:57 made history and confirmed the Weir-wolf is returning to his best form ahead of the IPC Athletics European Championships and Rio Paralympics this summer. 

Lily Partridge (Mick Woods) bounced back from what she described as a disappointing run at Highgate last weekend to set a 10km personal best and win her second British title of the year. She stopped the clock at 33.03, her closest challengers Rachel Felton (Christopher Frapwell) and Hannah Walker (Peter McHugh) over half a minute in arrears.

Andrew Butchart (Derek Easton) continued the momentum he has built up in the last few months, smashing his personal best to beat a strong field convincingly. He crossed the line in 28.28, over half a minute clear of defending champion Andy Vernon (Nic Bideau), with Ben Connor third.

The previous day Butchart finished second in the Westminster Mile behind Nick Goolab (Craig Winrow) with both men crossing the line in 4.01. Tom Marshall (James Thie) finished third just one second behind to take the other British Athletics Championship medal.

In the women’s British mile championship the in-form Sarah McDonald (Bud Baldaro) prevailed in 4.38, a clear winner over Jo Moultrie (William Parker) and Adelle Tracey (Winrow).

10k Results: https://www.vitalitylondon10000.co.uk/results/2016/
Mile Results: https://www.vitalitywestminstermile.co.uk/results/2016/

Meeting Citta’ Di Gavardo, Italy, 29 May

Richard Kilty (Benke Blomkvist) was denied his first ever sub ten second clocking by a strong following wind as he finished second over 100m in 9.92 (4.4). Earlier in the day he clocked a legal 10.14 (0.5), whilst Dina Asher-Smith (John Blackie) won the women’s race in a quick 11.22 (0.6) on her first outing of the outdoor season.

Results: http://www.fidal.it/risultati/2016/COD5290/RESULTSBYEVENT1.htm

B&S Kurpfalz Gala, Weinheim, Germany, 28 May

Ashleigh Nelson (Michael Afilaka) returned to the sort of form that saw her win European Championship bronze two years ago, clocking season’s bests of 11.26 (-0.2) and 11.19 (1.8) to finish runner-up in the final.

Results: http://lalive.de/160528DEWHM

IFAM Outdoor, Oordegem-Lede, Belgium, 28 May

In the main 400m, Rabah Yousif (Carol Williams) got the better of Martyn Rooney (Rana Reider) with the duo clocking 45.61 and 45.88 respectively. Jarryd Dunn (Keith Holt) was fourth in a season’s best of 46.16, whilst Jamie Bowie (Piotr Haczek) opened his season with a 46.21 victory in the B race.

In the 800m Jamie Webb (Adrian Webb) ran the race of his career to date, taking the win in a new lifetime best of 1.46.59 to go top of the Power of 10 rankings. In the women’s event there was another British victory, Alison Leonard (Baldaro) running a season’s best of 2.00.71.

The 5,000m was also kind to the travelling Brits as Jonny Davies (Rob McKim) smashed his personal best to run 13.23.94, just inside the Olympic Games qualifying time. That was good enough for third, with Jonny Taylor (Gordon Surtees) also running a personal best of 13.30.97 for fifth, inside the European Championship mark.

In the men’s 400mH, Rhys Williams (Adrian Thomas) ran his second season’s best in three days to take victory in 49.22, but most importantly it was inside the Olympic qualifying standard. Tom Burton (Nick Dakin) took second in 49.81, a season’s best but frustratingly one hundredth short of the European mark.

In the longer hurdles race, Luke Gunn clocked his best ever season’s opener of 8.35.71 to finish fifth, with Tom Wade (Geoff Watkin) running a 3000m s/c personal best of 8.38.41 not far behind. There was also a PB for Jonathan Hopkins (Ridley Griffith), who ran 8.40.28.

Results: http://www.liveresults.be/2016/ifam-outdoor/WPdoc.txt

NCAA Championships D1 East Preliminaries, Florida, 26-28 May

Across the two regional qualifiers no fewer than 28 British athletes qualified for the National Championships.

Leading the way in the East was Nathaneel Mitchell-Blake (Dennis Shaver) who won his 100m and 200m quarter-finals, clocking 10.20 (1.3) and 19.96w (3.6) respectively. Cindy Ofili (James Henry) was also in fine form, winning her 100mH quarter in 12.86 (1.9) to easily progress.

European U23 1500m champion Neil Gourley (Ben Thomas) also advanced thanks to a third place finish in 3.46.78, as did steeplechase pair Zak Seddon and Will Gray (Baldaro) who were first and third in their heat in 8.41.33 and 8.46.84.

Results: http://www.ncaa.com/sites/default/files/external/track-field/results/d1/outdoor16/east/compiled.pdf

NCAA Championships D1 West Preliminaries, Kansas, 26-28 May

Nick Miller (Tore Gustafsson) looked in incredible shape as he needed just one throw to qualify for Nationals. That one throw was a special one; 76.93m putting him top of the Power of 10 rankings and just 7cm short of the Olympic qualifying mark.

A personal best of 23.20 (1.2) saw Ama Pipi (Jonas Tawiah-Dodoo) advance to Eugene, whilst George Caddick (Clyde Hart) also bagged a fastest loser spot in the one lap event courtesy of a 46.63 run.

Freshman Josh Kerr (Joe Franklin) showed why he was European Junior 1500m Champion last season as he finished second in 3.43.67 to advance, whilst his New Mexico teammate Calli Thackery (Franklin) also did enough to qualify in the 5000m.

Alice Wright (Franklin) led most of the way as she finished second in the 10,000m in 34.21.95 to easily progress, whilst Luke Traynor (Dudley Walker) finished fifth in the men’s event to book his final spot.

Results: http://www.ncaa.com/sites/default/files/external/track-field/results/d1/outdoor16/west/index.htm