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Great run from Oliver Parker in the U18 match 400m hurdles race, as he smashes his PB over the 83.8cm barriers with a 52.61 time. The improves on the 52.94 last August at the EA U15 & U17 Championships in Bedford. It's also well below the Commonwealth Youth Games standard of 53.50 and takes him to the top of the European U18 standings so far this year.
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SB for U20 Zara Obamakinwa in the women's discus of 52.85m, further embellishing her qualification for the European U20s later this year. She remains 3rd in Europe in the U20 age group this year.Last edited by RunUnlimited; 21-05-23, 16:05.Comment
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New PB figures for Ella Greenway in the women's match 800m race just now, 2:04.30, behind 2017 European U20 800m champion Khahisa Mhlanga's victory in 2:04.19.Comment
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Cassie Ann Pemberton won the women's match 200m in 23.61 (-1.2), just 0.01 off her PB run in much stiller wind conditions earlier in the month. Right behind her in 2nd place was 2021 European U20 200m bronze medallist Success Eduan, who earlier this year won the UK Indoor champs 200m title, and made her outdoor debut with a 23.68 clocking here. That's just under the Euro U20 Q standard, though she had already done that during the indoor season which counts towards selection so with that in mind, perhaps that's why she's left it 'til now to begin her outdoor campaign?
A couple of hundredths behind in 3rd was 2019 EU20 200m gold medal victor Amy Hunt, who had earlier run an 11.61 SB 100m into a strong headwind. Her 23.70 is a season's best and the fact that she finished ahead of in-form BUCS 200m champ Sophie Walton (23.89), indicates to me that the seriously talented Hunt is slowly getting back some of that competitive fire that she had before all those injuries.Comment
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The women's javelin saw a surprise winner as U23 Lauren Farley beat Rebekah Walton by just 7cm, 56.73m to 56.66m, with Farley adding over a metre to the PB and CBP she set just last week at the Kent County Championships. Walton for her part improved her season's best as well.
That 56.73m from Farley raises her up to 10th on the UK's all time list, with only former UK record holder Kelly Morgan and Izzy Jeffs having done so as an U23 athlete. Good stuff!
U20 Sophie Hamilton was 5th overall with a best of 49.54m.Last edited by RunUnlimited; 22-05-23, 22:19.Comment
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In the women's pole vault contest, U23 Jade Spencer-Smith produced a new outdoor lifetime best of 4.20m at the 2nd attempt, to win the competition. She's just 5cm short of the Euro U23 qualifying standard.
Further down the field, top 5 and top 10 finisher at the 2021 Euro U20s and World U20s respectively, Sophie Ashurst, now an U23, set a season's best of 4.00m to finish 4th overall.Comment
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Encouraging stuff.
(although being a purist and pedant in equal measure you can’t have an “all time list” without Sanderson and Whitbread so that becomes “with the post 99 spec’”. Sorry!).
Nonetheless green shoots of recovery and hopefully the competition will spur on Farley and Walton.Comment
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Yeah, an all time list that ignores the Sanderson/Whitbread years of 70m+ throwing seems weird... but that's the way it is now I guess.
But yes, this is the most encouraging I've seen UK women's javelin in years. Obviously not at Tzengko or Vilagos level, let alone the recently retired Spotakova's yet, but this is a good sign that women are now starting to throw in the mid-50's with some regularity now. The day we have a 60m thrown by one of them will be pretty awesome!Last edited by RunUnlimited; 22-05-23, 22:20.
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(Update: It turns out that Jade Spencer-Smith actually did clear 4.25m on the third and final attempt! Yesterday on the Roster Athletics website, it hadn't updated the result, even when all the other events had long finished in Loughborough. Anyway, congrats to Spencer-Smith who has secured the qualifying standard for the European U23s. That catapults the 21 year old up to third on this year's European U23 rankings so far.)Last edited by RunUnlimited; 22-05-23, 14:15.Comment
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Archie Yeo obtained the triple jump U23 standard at the Loughborough International with a 16.02m 3rd round mark, currently 1st on European U23 rankingsComment
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U20 Daniel Akinradewo’s 15.29 was agonisingly close to the qualifying distance for his age group too, just 0.01 more for him to find. He diid also jump 15.32 but with the benefit of a 2.5 wind.
It would be good to see both of these young men improving further in an event which has been weak for us since Phillips Idowu retired. -
Toby Dronfield U23 also jumped well with a big PB 15.40. He was also unfortunate due to a rare lapse of concentration by the officials who raked over his mark for a legal jump which was bigger than his official 15.40m result.
Both Toby Dronfield and Daniel Akinradewo are competing at BIGish on Monday. With Archie Yeo competing in long jump qualification.
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Another result from yesterday's Loughborough International due to some issues with the Roster Athletics website was the women's long jump. 19 year old Molly Palmer won by just 1cm and took the scalp of veteran jumper Abigail Irozoru, with a 6.28m SB (+0.1). The first year U23, who reached the World U20 Championship long jump final in 2022, continues her good form so far this outdoor season, having secured the BUCS outdoor title on May 1st in Manchester and now she'll be looking towards not only improving upon her 6.31m lifetime best, but to securing the 6.45m distance she'll need to qualify for the European U23s as well.
In third place was a bit of a surprise though. U20 heptathlete Lucy Fellows, who before yesterday's competition had a long jump PB of 6.08m and wasn't expected to be in the mix for the top 3, added 12cm to that mark with a 6.20m (+1.0) effort which sees her currently top of the UK U20 rankings this year. That means she's only 5cm short of the Euro U20 Q standard and with Fellows having shown improvement in some of her other events already this early in the outdoor season, it's possible that we could see her make a revision to her heptathlon total score too.Comment
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In the men's long jump at Loughborough yesterday, no U23 or U20 athletes finished higher than 6th, but the athlete who finished in that position, 18 year old Oreofeoluwa Adepegba, jumped a big outdoor season's best of 7.31m (0.0) in the final round. That's just 2cm short of his PB set in 2021 when he was just 16 years old.
He's still short of the Euro U20 Q distance of 7.50m, but there is still plenty of time an opportunity for the young man to get it before the 9th July cut off point.Comment
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U17 javelin thrower Ayeaha Jones threw a SB 50.94, her second best effort ever, yesterday.Comment
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The talented u17 multis prospect Qi Chi Ukpai set new PBS yesterday in the 80 m hurdles (12.07) and shot (11.56).Last edited by Occasional Hope; 23-05-23, 18:18.Comment
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Probably the case of the ol' "auto-correct" butting in unhelpfully with a "suggestion" for OH there carterhatch.
As for Qi Chi Ukpai, she's a talented youngster certainly and has as part of her coaching set up John Herbert too. So far she has PBs of: 80mh - 12.07, shot put - 11.56m, javelin - 22.26m, long jump - 5.17m (ind. 5.35m), high jump - 1.69m (ind. 1.73m), 200m - 25.58, 800m - 2:42.46, and an U15 pentathlon score PB of 3058 from last year. Adding those PBs together into a hypothetical U17 heptathlon would give Ukpai 4580 (4683 if you swap around her high and long jumps with her indoor bests). That's very impressive going for someone of her age.
It will be fascinating to see what she'll do in a heptathlon this year, that's for certain.
And that's not including her skill in the triple jump too; 12.10m this year already and being coached by one of Britain's best triple jumpers too. -
My instinct is that she may end up concentrating on TJ (or even HJ). Even at 15/16, a few too many weak disciplines and no especially stellar ones (perhaps HJ). Interesting that her LJ is fairly weak in comparison to her TJ.
In the last few years, we've had first year u17s (Rush, Brown, Mardle, Wilson) that were 400-500 points above her hypothetical points total.Last edited by Mikka; 23-05-23, 22:43. -
That's true about Ukpai's PB's currently behind those other first year U17 heptathletes you mention Mikka, however, it must be noted that you're comparing athletes who have completed that full season, and we're discussing one who is only a month or so into the outdoor season and in some events, has only just started in them for the first time (like the javelin).
A better comparison will have to wait unto the end of the season before we can do a more in-depth analysis I'll bet.
I do agree with your assessment that Ukpai's future might be as a specialist triple or high jumper in the coming years though.
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Currently going through the start lists of the NCAA Div 1 Outdoor Champs East and West 1st round that begin to today, looking for the British U23 and U20s competing, of which there is quite a few, and I have to say that two of our better college athletes, Adam Clayton and Brodie Young, have been handed absolutely rotten lane draws Young has gotten lane 1 in his 400m race, while Clayton is in lane 9 of his 200m heat.
What's extra galling for Clayton is that though he is the 44th ranked in the NCAA on times, he is one of the quickest in his particular heat... Yet guys ranked 71st, 119th and 155th(!) take up lanes 5, 7 and 6 respectively. Very unlucky. Hopefully he'll overcome that handicap and make it through regardless.
Yemi John has also gotten a rough draw in the 400m... In the race, she has the 3rd fastest time in the field of competitors she's facing, but she gets lane 1 regardless. Boo.
Amber Anning meanwhile is right next to another U23 Brit in Nayanna Dubarry-Gay in the very next heat, though at least its lane 3 this time, while Dubarry-Gay is in lane 2.Last edited by RunUnlimited; 24-05-23, 14:44.Comment
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Early doors at the NCAA East 1st Round and there has been British U23 success to report on already.
NCAA Div. I Outdoor Championship 2023 - East 1st Round | Jacksonville, Florida | 24 - 27th May
Men's Hammer (First Round - The top 12 will advance to Austin)
1. Kenneth Ikeji (U23) (Harvard) - 72.88m. All of Ikeji's three throws were beyond 72 meters as he sailed comfortably through to the NCAA Finals starting on June 7th.
Men's 110m Hurdles (First Round - 24 advance to the Quarter-Finals on Friday)
Heat 4
3. Sam Bennett (U23) (Harvard) - 13.77 PB.
Men's 1500m (First Round - 24 advance to the Quarter-Finals on Friday)
Heat 4
8. Joe Ewing (U23) (Harvard) - 3:45.96 (q).Last edited by RunUnlimited; 25-05-23, 03:36.Comment
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