22 August 2010

On the fifth day of action for the Team GB athletes at the Youth Olympic Games there was further medal joy with Charlie Grice (Jon Bigg) taking bronze in the men’s 1000m final

Grice took the bronze medal following a thrilling race at the Bishan Stadium in extremely hot and humid conditions.

The Brighton based athlete, who was inspired by a chat with double Olympic Champion Sebastian Coe earlier in the week, smashed his personal best with a time of 2:21.85.

Grice said: “It feels great to have won a medal because I was only ranked eighth coming into the event and so I didn’t really know what to expect. My coach told me to leave everything out on the track because I have got a two week rest now and I did that and it worked out well.”

Norfolk’s Sophie McKinna (Geoff Capes) and Hampshire’s Freya Jones (Bill Bushnell) were both placed third going in to the final round of their respective shot put and javelin competitions. However both Team GB athletes finished in fifth position after some big distances were recorded by a competitive field in the final round. McKinna’s throw of 15.14m is a new personal best and UK under-17 record.

McKinna said: “If you had said to me at the start of the event that I would be in the final and throwing a personal best I would have been really happy. A lot of these girls have got about a year and half on me so I will go away and work hard and come back stronger next year.

Jones said: “To end up fifth was really hard.  But sometimes that is what happens on the day and to be able to say that I am the fifth best javelin thrower in the world at my age is a great feeling.”

The Youth Olympic Games involves 3,600 athletes, aged 14-18, from over 200 nations from, 14-26 August. For more information visit www.singapore2010.sg

For more on Team GB check out the BOA website at: http://www.olympics.org.uk