UK Under 20 and U18 Outdoor Results

[RunUnlimited]

Sam Lunt won the English U15/U17 Champs in Bedford last weekend in 51.78, remaining unbeaten this year in his age group. His PB and UK U17 record of 51.55, set just a week after the European U18s had finished and which currently makes him the 3rd fastest on the continent this year, would have seen Lunt win a silver medal in Jerusalem, and I genuinely see him as being a potential finalist for the European U20s next year in Cluj-Napoca, Romania at the rate of his progression.

Both him, as well as World U20 semi-finalist (and UK age 17 best setter) Onyeka Okoh, are going to be very very interesting to follow next year. And both will still be eligible for the 2024 World U20 Championships too.

(Thanks for the correction on the location of the European U20s trickstat. Can't believe I got that wrong.)

[trickstat]

The European U20s next year in Cluj-Napoca in Romania. The Under 23s are in Espoo.

[RunUnlimited]

Corrected. Thanks Trickstat.

[Ursus]

Fab U17 girls javelin at Bedford - Ayesha Jones won with 50.85m, which would have put her third on the AT lists had she not thrown further a couple of months ago. Dulcie Yelling threw 47.89m (2m PB) to go inside the top 10 AT. Both girls will still be U17s next year. Hannah Lewington threw 46.50m for third, just 5cm off her PB.

It's the hope that kills...

Isn’t it just?

I generally try not to get too carried away by performances with the lighter implements. But right now I’ll clutch at any javelin shaped straws.

[Occasional Hope]

Ian Hodge has reported some good results from the UK School Games today, the best probably being a super pb of 12.61 for u17 Noah Hanson over 100mh. Previous best was 12.77.

[trickstat]

I think there's no perfect system for setting up age-group sprint hurdles to best identify who might be the best seniors in the future. For example, you could ditch the under 20 99cm hurdles and make 17 year olds compete at the senior height. This may lead to a fast athlete with good technique focussing on sprints or jumps as they are not yet physically ready to run quickly over the full-size barriers. Meanwhile, a taller, stronger athlete who lacks the speed to really excel as a senior may dominate his contemporaries. I think the lower hurdles are generally a better way of doing things, but you will always get some athletes who find that this is the highest hurdle they can ever be really fast over. I think Jack Meredith probably fell into that category.

As for Tristan Anthony, he was quite local to me and was extremely talented. He was the top 200 runner of his age in the country at under 15 when Mark Lewis-Francis was the number 1 at 100. I actually think that 400H was the event that he had the greatest potential in, but he didn't want to commit to the training required and he settled for being a useful 110 hurdler. He ran a 55 second flat 400 at 12 when he'd only just joined a club.

[LoveSprints1]

Note that Sam Bennett has been injured for some years and had at least two operations. He is still training. If he is able to come back, hopefully he will be part of the next generation.

[RunUnlimited]

LoveSprints1 Ok, that explains his lack of running the last couple of years. I knew he'd picked up a big injury in 2019 that ended that season, after he'd run a windy (+3.8m/s), but very promising 13.58. (In 2018, as well as winning gold in the European U18s in an U18 British record of 13.15, he also ran a wind legal 13.63 PB over the U20 hurdles as a 17 year old, very close to the qualifying standard for the World U20's in Tampere). Had that injury not happened, he was sure to be a contender for making the World U20 final at the very least. And I should have guessed that his absence from the entire 2021 *and* 2022 seasons would have been for similar, injury related, reasons.

Well, it's great to hear that Bennett is still training, because he is a very talented young man. He's still only 21, and has time to make an impact. Hopefully, Sam will be fit enough for the European U23s in Espoo next year.

[Occasional Hope]

Ian Hodge reports an enormous pb for Zara Obamkinwa: 55.13, an improvement from 51.99 at Cali. No.2 all time on the UK u20 rankings.

[RunUnlimited]

Fantastic result for Zara. She had already achieved a great deal this year - setting a couple of PBs, including that 51.99m during the qualifying rounds in Cali, and reaching a World U20 discus final. She'll likely be disappointed that she couldn't follow up that 51.99m with a similar effort in the final itself, in fact putting in one of her worst throws of the year of 47.23m for 11th place, but I'm sure she learned a *lot* from that whole experience.

This new personal best, had it happened in that Cali world final, would have won Zara the silver medal! If she can reproduce this form at next year's European U20s in Cluj-Napoca, she'll be a definite medal contender.

[RunUnlimited]

Ian Hodge reports an enormous pb for Zara Obamkinwa: 55.13, an improvement from 51.99 at Cali. No.2 all time on the UK u20 rankings.

In the U17 men's discus, current UK leader Timi Babatunde, added almost a metre to his PB with a 56.43m effort on Sunday in Moulton. A week after winning the English U15/U17 title with his previous PB (55.70m), Babatunde's new figures would have placed the 16 year old inside the top 8 in the European U18s earlier this summer.

This throw moves him up from 16th on the UK U17 all time list, into 10th place.

[Occasional Hope]

Another fine improvement. Hope they can both build on this next year and beyond.

Euro u18 champion Cleo A had her second best throw ever too.

[CAML]

17 year old 6'9" Michael Jenkins has smashed his own F38 Celebral Palsy world record, throwing the 1.5kg discus 61.19 metres. Now that is bloody good!

[MysteryBrick]

He's ranked 7th on the UK U20 list this year in the 1.75kg with 47.85m, and 61.19m with a 1.5kg suggests he could get well over 50m with the 1.75kg next year. Very impressive.

[carterhatch]

These days I try not to get too over excited about any young athlete and I must confess that 'para' events tend to pass me by... but the last time this young lad was mentioned on the forum I did some background reading on him ... it's not the first time he has broken the world best for F38.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/teen-cerebral-palsy-breaks-discus-155300650.html

and as mentioned he is still only 17, but 6'9",Ii suspect if he remains in the sport, we are going to hear a great deal more about this talented young lad and as this article notes, he is planning to compete in 'able-bodied' as well as paralympic meets.

https://www.wales247.co.uk/welsh-teenager-smashes-discus-world-record-again

[RunUnlimited]

According to Ian Hodges on Twitter, at the European "DNA" under 20 athletics meeting in Castellon, Spain yesterday, EU18 200m champion Faith Akinbileje won the 100m race in a new PB of 11.53 (+2.0m/s), bringing her very successful season to an end. That means that the John Blackie coached athlete has now run faster (just) over that distance at 16 years old than another of Blackie's training group did at the same age - Dina Asher Smith!

[Runner88]

And that was with what looked like an odd start. Seemed to stumble a bit out of the blocks. More to come there for sure

[RunUnlimited]

@Runner88
Yeah, just watching a replay of the race right now and Akinbileje did indeed have a stumble after about her 2nd stride out of the blocks, but from that point on, she straight dominated the field and ran super well.

[RunUnlimited]

Probably the last bit of news regarding U20 athletes for this year, but it's about a venue change for next year's European U20 Championships. They were set to be held in the Romanian town of Cluj-Napoca next July, however, as part of the announcements by the European Athletics Council which included the awarding of the 2026 European Athletics Championships to Birmingham and the Alexander Stadium, Jerusalem will now be the host city for the Euro U20s. Additionally, the dates of these championships have changed from 6-9 July, to the 7-10 August.

The reasoning for the location change have yet to be given.

[CAML]

Former hurdle prodigy Sam Bennett who has been waylaid by injury, ran a 60m pb of 6.94 recently.

[RunUnlimited]

Finally! I'd mentioned the lad a few times on this thread earlier in the year, and folks had said that Bennett was returning from pretty much 2-3 years of constant injury troubles. So it is heartening to see this result, his first recorded run since Aug 2020.

Let's hope that this is a sign that he'll be back in action for the long term.

[Occasional Hope]

I must say, although it didn't pay off for her, I was impressed by Innes Fitzgerald's confidence and determination on going for it at the Euro Cross Country at the weekend, against girls three years older than herself.