Potential Breakthrough British Athletes In 2023

[RunUnlimited]

Well regarding Hunt, she did manage a 23.45 200m run, in her only outdoor appearance last year after the winter injury that wrecked her season, her 6th fastest 200m she's ever done. So I think she's still got plenty of scope to run very fast like she did in 2019. I'm just hoping that she has much better luck with injuries than she's had the last couple of years.

[Occasional Hope]

I don't think anyone is 'putting them down' by noting their injury-ridden history. I'm sure we all very much hope they can realise their potential.

[CAML]

Goriola, predictive text and a long day, but I should have checked. Sorry folks.

[CAML]

Noah Hanson set a pb as well, and like Jaiden Dean is a fine prospect, but I think they will struggle over the senior hurdles. If your well under 6', the transition from 3' to 3'6" hurdles is tough. Whereas Goriola looks far smoother over the junior compared to the youth hurdles.

[Sprintfan]

So very quick to put both Burgin and Hunt down. Both worked/working hard to come back from injury. Both pretty meteoric but young. Bodies not mature cannot take the stress and strain. Charlie Dobson in the same category for a few years but he gives us great hope after what he achieved last year. So. No need to throw stones. Give them at least a modicum of support while these young athletes work through their injuries

Now if all three come good.....

[jjimbojames]

Imagine they both stayed injury-free for the next 10 years 😳

[Occasional Hope]

It's quite encouraging having the two of them progressing at the same time - maybe the domestic rivalry will help them both develop.

[Occasional Hope]

The same goes for Max Burgin...

[RunUnlimited]

A big "if".... Can Hunt stay fit for longer than a couple of months?

[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.

[Sprintfan]

Maybe Amy Hunt can consolidate her breakthrough this year?

[RunUnlimited]

Looks like Medwin Odamtten might have thrown his hat into the ring of potential breakthrough candidates after his 6.67 run at the Lee Valley indoor meeting earlier today. That puts him up to =5th on the UK U20 all time list for the 60m. A great start to the season for him!

[RunUnlimited]

There's a bunch of very promising and talented heptathletes, all with the potential for making pretty significant improvements to both their individual event PBs and their overall points totals, who will be lining up for competition this year.

With Abigail Pawlett (5706 points - ranked 6th among the world's U20 heptathletes heading into last year's World U20 Champs, only for injury to prevent her from going to Cali) entering the U23 age group this year, that means there will be a new UK no.1 position to fill, with a view to qualifying for the European Under 20 Championships this summer.

Ella Rush:

In Pawlett's absence, Ella Rush would be her replacement in Cali and once there, performed admirably to finish a creditable 6th place, ending up with a new PB points total of 5591 (12th UK U20 all time) and several individual PBs. Added to the UK Indoor long jump title she secured earlier in the year, Rush showed plenty of her potential. Her one real Achilles heel is, as with so many of our heptathletes, the javelin, though she did set a new jav PB of 34.61m at the World U20s. In every other discipline she is pretty solid, though perhaps she could do with a tad more speed in both the 100m hurdles and 200m, and she'll need to push her high jump beyond her current 1.76m PB too if she wants to be truly competitive.

Eloise Hind:

Very talented and, in my opinion, could leap frog ahead of Rush this year in the heptathlon. She set a bunch of PBs last year, her first as an U20 athlete, including 2 outright personal bests (100m hurdles; 14.08, 200m; 25.60) and an =PB (HJ, 1.78m) at the World U20s. Unfortunately though, she had to pull out of the 2nd day of competition due to injury, with her well on the way to smashing her 5448 points total from Bedford earlier in the outdoor season and a likely top 5 finish.
Judging by the progression she already made during her first year as an U20, I can see Hind making some big improvements this year. Her one true weakness is the shot, with a PB of 10.61, and that'll need to get a lot better if Hind wishes to be fighting for podium places at future World and European U20 champs.

Seren Rodgers:

Like Hind, 2022 was Rodgers first year as an U20 and like the Oxford City AC athlete, she too made an immediate impression with impressive performances both domestically, and on the international scene. Apart from a near-disaster in the 100m hurdles on the heptathlon contest in Jerusalem, Rogers would have placed in the top 5 at the European U18s, as she racked up a spate of PBs across the two days. She also had some performances using the U20 javelin, shot and hurdles and showed that with some hard work during this winter, she could make some very nice progress.

Chisom Nwafor:

Perhaps the most raw of the athletes so far featured on this list. Nwafor only managed the single heptathlon in 2022, where at Bedford she set a new points best of 5361 in her first heptathlon as an U18, which meant she won the EA Senior & U20 Combined Events Championships and qualified for a spot at the European Athletics U18 Championships as a result. Unfortunately she only lasted one hurdles race and a solitary attempt at her opening height in the high jump before Nwafor pulled out of the competition with injury.
I only really saw her compete in Bedford, and the then 16 year old showed rather rudimentary technique in some of the events, especially in the hurdles and the javelin, which will definitely require working on. Even so, Nwafor already has PBs of 33.34m for the javelin (which she'd only started throwing in July 2021) and 14.69 in the 100m hurdles (that time set in her first ever race over the U18 height barriers). Meanwhile a PB of 13.81m in the shot put placed her 2nd overall amongst her competitors at the European U18s, an encouraging sign to say the least.

[LuckySpikes]

Make that 4 ... Mia McIntosh is in the 60m at the Lee Valley meeting.

[Loop-guru]

I agree, Josh has an excellent approach to his training. He always tries to peak for the trials, does not overrace and seems to know how to come to the boil at the right time. He is not the finished article and probably needs more big race exposure which hopefully will come. He would be a good outside bet to do well.