New Balance 5th Avenue Mile, New York, USA, 3 September

Laura Muir (coach: Andy Young) ended her season on a high with a second place finish behind Olympic 1500m bronze medallist Jenny Simpson in a closely run race. The duo pulled clear of the rest of the field in the second half of the straight line race, with Simpson just prevailing over the final 50m.

There was a personal best for Muir of 4.18.4, whilst the other two Brits in the race also recorded road PBs. Eilish McColgan (Liz McColgan-Nuttall) stepped down from 5,000m to run a strong race, 12th in 4.25.6, with Alison Leonard (Bud Baldaro) clocking 4.26.3, just two places further back.

In the men’s race, America based Chris O’Hare (Terrance Mahon) was right in the mix, eventually finishing 6th in 3.53.0, just 3 seconds down on the win and also a road personal best. Jake Wightman (Geoff Wightman) just dipped under four minutes, his 3.59.7 clocking good for 16th.

Results: http://web2.nyrrc.org/cgi-bin/htmlos.cgi/aes-programs/results/startup.html?result.id=b60903&result.year=2016

ISTAF Berlin, Germany, 3 September

David Omoregie (Benke Blomkvist) was the star British performer in the German capital as he beat a quality field, including Olympic fourth placer Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, to win the biggest race of his career to date. Getting a great start, the European U23 champion ran a terrific race, before the mother of all dips secured the win and a 13.24 (+0.6m/s) personal best.

There was also victory on the night for Jazmin Sawyers (Alan Lerwill), as she leapt 6.62m to beat a field including Olympic and world champion Tianna Bartoletta. Shara Proctor (Rana Reider) was fourth in that competition with a best of 6.48m.

In the men’s 100m Joel Fearon (Michael Khmel) once again showed his class, second to Kim Collins and ahead of Olympic 200m bronze medallist Christophe Lemaitre. Collins was a clear winner on this occasion in 10.07, but the Birchfield Harrier ran a great race to clock 10.16 (0.4) three thousandths ahead of the Frenchman, with James Dasaolu (Steve Fudge) fourth in 10.21.

Lynsey Sharp (Reider) ran another world class time in the women’s 800m, however her 1.58.31 run was only good enough for fifth in a field containing the Olympic gold and silver medallists. There was also a fifth place finish for Tiffany Porter (Reider) in the sprint hurdles, her 12.79 (1.3) run less than 0.15 off the win.

Results: https://www.iaaf.org/results/iaaf-world-challenge-meetings/2016/istaf-berlin-internationales-stadionfest-5865

2016 School Games, Loughborough University, 2 September

A wet day at Loughborough University didn’t dampen the spirits as the athletics took place at the four day long School Games, the UK’s only multi-sport championship for youngsters.

European Youth Championship silver medallist Anna Burt (Kevin Brunt) arguably produced the performance of the day, securing a solo 800m victory in a championship best performance of 2.07.60, just a second down on her personal best.

There was also an impressive run for Holly McArthur (Iain McEwan), who followed up England Athletics Championship 300m hurdles victory with a commanding win in 43.62.

In the parallel success 400m races, there were wins for Zak Skinner (David Hull) and Katie Nesbitt (Michael Utting) both just outside their personal bests with 54.43 and 64.61 runs respectively.

Results: http://powerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=165509