Potential Breakthrough British Athletes In 2023

[RunUnlimited]

@Paps

And if I remember it correctly, not only was 2023 Heinrich's first year running the 400m, but she'd only run *two* 400m races prior to the EU18 Championships... and then proceeded to run 3 consecutive PBs on her way to a surprise gold medal, out-racing the pre-race Czech favourite to boot!

[Paps]

So raw at the event and already running it so well… I’d argue she’s probably the most exciting of the lot

[RunUnlimited]

D'oh! I can't believe I left out the winner of the EU18 400m gold! Yes, absolutely she would be there too, and might even be a factor in the individual 400m at the EU20 Championships. Good call.

[Mikka]

Another name to keep an eye on from last weekend's EA U20/U17/U15 Indoor champs was the winner of the U20 400m title, Ashley Nemits. She started that championships with an indoor PB 56.65 and outdoor PB of 55.39. She then preceded to run 54.99 in winning her heat, and sailed to victory in 54.17, an improvement of over 2 seconds in the space of 2 races!

With Yemi Mary John moving into the U23 age group, its possible that another talented one lap athlete is coming through to sorta fill the gap. Certainly, GB could be sending a pretty strong 4x400m squad to the European U20's this summer, with Nemits, Newnham, relay-stalwart Sission, Grieve, Astil, and the EU18 400m hurdles medallists, Pye and Okoro, all in contention.

Also, I'm sure it helps that Nemits is being coached by Trevor Painter....

Charlotte Henrich is likely to be involved, if fit, I would imagine.

[RunUnlimited]

Another name to keep an eye on from last weekend's EA U20/U17/U15 Indoor champs was the winner of the U20 400m title, Ashley Nemits. She started that championships with an indoor PB 56.65 and outdoor PB of 55.39. She then preceded to run 54.99 in winning her heat, and sailed to victory in 54.17, an improvement of over 2 seconds in the space of 2 races!

With Yemi Mary John moving into the U23 age group, its possible that another talented one lap athlete is coming through to sorta fill the gap. Certainly, GB could be sending a pretty strong 4x400m squad to the European U20's this summer, with Nemits, Newnham, relay-stalwart Sission, Grieve, Astil, and the EU18 400m hurdles medallists, Pye and Okoro, all in contention.

Also, I'm sure it helps that Nemits is being coached by Trevor Painter....

[RunUnlimited]

@Occasional Hope

She was also down to compete in the high jump, but scratched from that to focus on the hurdles... a decision that obviously worked out very well for her in the end!

[Occasional Hope]

She LJ'ed 5.94 at the weekend as well, an outright PB to win that event. A very promising talent.

[RunUnlimited]

I had wanted to add this athlete to the thread awhile back, but due to not seeing them in action I wanted to wait until I'd had a chance to see them perform. Well, now that the U20/U17/U15 Indoor Championships are now over I can definitively state that Thea Brown is a prospect worth mentioning.

Brown won the English School combined events champs last year, as well as the English Schools high jump title, so has some pedigree. It was noticing that she had PBs of 1.80m for the HJ (importantly, done while on her way to winning the ES Combined Events Champs), 24.4 200m, a decent 11m+ SP and good LJ for her age, 5.81m, that caught my eye. Now starting this year with a UK U17 record for the 60m hurdles, and looking so good while doing it, has me thinking of what she'll do during the summer.

[CAML]

Goriola, Hanson and Dean bringing the best out of each other and climbing the 60m Junior hurdles all time list. Three out of the top four in that list are from 2014, who for the most part never delivered on that promise.

[RunUnlimited]

Another young athlete who impressed in Lee Valley on Sunday was sprint hurdler Daniel Goriola. The 17 year old, now in his first year as an U20 athlete (he turns 18 in March), came through with a win over the 60m hurdles final. His time of 7.90 was just 1/100th off his indoor PB set over the U20 hurdles, aged just 16, last February. To start the 2023 season in this fashion bodes well for the young man, and despite his age, Goriola is already looking like a big unit of an athlete, tall, powerful, but also with good technique over the barriers. He kind of reminds me of Tony Jarrett in terms of style and if he is anywhere close as good as Jarrett was during his career, he'll have been doing something very right!

Earlier during the heats, Goriola was pipped to the line by fellow 17 year old Jaiden Dean, last year's English Schools champion over the U17 100m hurdles. Dean won that heat in 7.98, an instant PB as this was his first ever race, indoors or out, over the U20 regulation hurdles! However, the UK U17 60m hurdle record holder (7.76 when triumphing at the English Age Group Indoor Champs last winter), couldn't continue the form in the same final after clouting the first hurdle put him off balance and a step behind Goriola, before another hurdle hit took him completely out of contention.

But despite this, I can see a bright few months for Dean, and especially Goriola, as the season progresses.

Well, I'm being proved correct about this prediction! Goriola at the U15/U17 & U20 Indoor Championships about 30 minutes ago, lowered his lifetime best in the 60m hurdles to 7.72 to win the U20 title.

Despite clattering the final two flights, Goriola was able to power through, kept his composure and crossed the line ahead of Noah Hanson, who had been the UK U20 leader on times before these championships.

I'm really looking forward to the summer and seeing what Goriola, Hanson, Hedman and Jaiden Dean, have to offer in the 110m hurdles. It could be quite a fight to make it onto the team for the upcoming European U20 in Jerusalem, with this crop of young talent coming through.

[MysteryBrick]

1:46 indoor for his opener at altitude, NCAA lead. Going well.so far!

[Occasional Hope]

Interesting. The US was good for his times but that indoor bronze aside, not his competitiveness.

[philipo]

A point well made.!

[RunUnlimited]

[Thread VAR check: Check compete] "You can go ahead and allow this answer to stand. Though a recent European Indoor record holder, Scott's lack of success outdoors would still warrant a 'breakthrough' if he was to improve this year."

[BeHappy]

Maybe a recent European Indoor record holder doesn't qualify for this thread but I am looking forward to a breakthrough on the roads from Marc Scott this year. I see he has left the US and plans to train in the UK / Kenya (with Kipchoge he hopes!) with a Spring marathon planned.