UK U23/U20/U17 2023 Outdoor Results

[RunUnlimited]

With the indoor season coming to close, April rapidly approaching and British Summer Time about to commence after midnight tonight, I thought it would be a good time to add a thread for the outdoor exploits of our U23, U20 and U17 athletes, to go along with the more general UK Outdoor 2023 thread.

As busy as 2022 was for major championships for both the senior and junior ranks in Britain, 2023 will be pretty chock full too, as the European Under 23 Championships in Espoo, Finland, European Under 20 Championships in Jerusalem, Israel and the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad & Tobago, all take place between July and August.
The EU23s and EU20s will take precedent of course, but as last year's EU18 Champs showed, even the less important CYG can provide a spring board for some talented U17s to push on into the U20 age group and beyond.

So post here for any notable results from the U23, U20 and U17 age categories from UK athletes.

[RunUnlimited]

Though this first post isn't an athletic result per say, it is something that will definitely benefit British U20 and U17 middle distance athletes this year and in the future if it's a success. https://athleticsweekly.com/athletic...bs-1039966335/

The very successful "Night Of The 10,000m PBs" is going to include 4 races over 800m for British U20 and U17 men and women as part of the program for the first time. It'll serve as an excellent opportunity for some of the UK's best up and coming middle distance runners to not only experience the kind of electric and vibrant atmosphere that is not usually seen at their level of competition, but will also prove a key chance to achieve qualifying standards for world and/or continental junior championships.

I personally think it's a great idea, with the athletes who will be in attendance no doubt incentivised to ran fast if they want to get those Q times, rather than having to possibly balance that same need with wanting to win a national title at the England Athletics U20s in Chelmsford, where the races can become slow, tactical affairs and could end up denying talented athletes a chance to go to a World or European U20s as a result. And this addition to the Night of the 10,000m PBs will definitely benefit the U17 runners as unlike the U23s and U20s, they don't have a qualifying trials event, so having the chance of fast races in Highgate can only be viewed as a positive development here.

[Occasional Hope]

46.09 pb for Brodie Young in the US, just 20 last month. per Ian Hodge. Quite an improvement, previous best 46.54 indoors last month.

Also, after a good season throwing the weight indoor, u23 Kenneth Ikeji starts his hammer campaign with a pb 69.18.

[MysteryBrick]

That's pretty impressive for a British first-year U23, hope he gets into the mid-45s this season.

[Occasional Hope]

Yemi Mary John ran a 23.78 pb over 200 yesterday.

[RunUnlimited]

A good time for her. I'm liking that she is working on her baseline speed so much since going to the USA - with the way that the likes of Bol, Wilson, Adeleke and Klaver are running the flat 400 these days, being just a strong athlete over one lap isn't going to be enough to get yourself into a global championship final, let alone making a podium.

Personally, I see Yemi Mary John going close to, if not under, 51 seconds flat this year.

[RunUnlimited]

46.09 pb for Brodie Young in the US, just 20 last month. per Ian Hodge. Quite an improvement, previous best 46.54 indoors last month.

At the Aztec Invitational meeting in San Diego, in the women's triple jump, 2021 EU20 4th placer Temi Ojora, won with a 13.17m (+1.8m/s) effort.

[MBChristie]

Brodie Young was in Lubbock, Temi Ojora in San Diego (same venue as Tade Ojora ran 13.93(1.9) 110H).

[RunUnlimited]

Oops! Thanks for the correction there MB. Don't know how I got the venues mixed up.

[RunUnlimited]

Charlotte Payne continued her good start to her season by following up her victory in the U23 hammer at the European Throwing Cup in Leiria a fortnight ago, with an easy win at a low-key meeting in Bournemouth last Sunday. She was the clear class of the field (she ended up winning by over 30 meters!), so it was more a case of what type of shape she was in this early in the outdoor season. She took 4 throws, 3 of which were legal, and all of them were over 69 meters, with her best effort coming in the 3rd round of 69.94m. At last year's European Throwing Cup (13th March), Charlotte managed a best of 66.72m... to be already so close to 70m at the same time a year later, while no doubt still in heavy-ish training, surely bodes well for Payne as we head into spring proper and summer when the outdoor season really kicks into gear.

[CAML]

Really good piece on her Instagram about living with her severe hearing impairment, which has deteriorated further over recent years. It's remarkable what Charlotte has achieved to date, whatever the obstacle, the harder she trains. Hitchon inspired a generation, as will she.

[RunUnlimited]

Right now in the Florida Relays, Kenneth Ikeji is 3rd in the men's hammer after 3 rounds, with a best effort so far of 68.31m. Ireland's Sean Mockler is in 4th currently, having thrown 66.15m also in round 3.

Then in round 4, Ikeji improves to a new lifetime best of 69.99m, agonizingly close to getting over 70 meters! It's his second PB in the space of a week, and he still has another 2 rounds to go!

As I was entering this reply, Kenneth Ikeji explodes out to new figures of 72.48m in round 5! It moves him up into 2nd place in the competition, but more importantly for him, that's achieved the qualifying standard for the European U23s, is a UK 2023 leading performance, and moves Ikeji up to 10th on the UK U23 all time list, ahead of 2018 World Junior champion Jake Norris.

[Occasional Hope]

Excellent!

[Occasional Hope]

Although Norris did throw the senior weight hammer further several times as an u20

[RunUnlimited]

Yemi Mary John ran 23.91 (-0.5m/s) over 200m at the Florida Relays, and Efe Okoro opened his outdoor season with a 52.22 time in the 400m Hurdles.

[Occasional Hope]

TJer Temi Ojora jumped a 20cm pb LJ of 6.37 at the Florida Relays.

[Occasional Hope]

Charles Hicks 27.57, his third best ever over 10000.

[Ursus]

Right now in the Florida Relays, Kenneth Ikeji is 3rd in the men's hammer after 3 rounds, with a best effort so far of 68.31m. Ireland's Sean Mockler is in 4th currently, having thrown 66.15m also in round 3.

Then in round 4, Ikeji improves to a new lifetime best of 69.99m, agonizingly close to getting over 70 meters! It's his second PB in the space of a week, and he still has another 2 rounds to go!

As I was entering this reply, Kenneth Ikeji explodes out to new figures of 72.48m in round 5! It moves him up into 2nd place in the competition, but more importantly for him, that's achieved the qualifying standard for the European U23s, is a UK 2023 leading performance, and moves Ikeji up to 10th on the UK U23 all time list, ahead of 2018 World Junior champion Jake Norris.

Great news!

Don’t know what the story has been with Norris but to the outsider his lack of progress has been incredibly frustrating.

[Occasional Hope]

Also a 2s pb of 28.21 over 10000 and Euro u23 qualifier for Rory Leonard.

[RunUnlimited]

TJer Temi Ojora jumped a 20cm pb LJ of 6.37 at the Florida Relays.

And currently in her favoured triple jump, Temi Ojora leads the competition with a 13.43m (0.0 m/s) in the 2nd round, her longest distance reached since 2021, when she finished 4th at the European U20s. She's also shown great consistency, with 4 of her 5 other jumps all being over 13.10m. and 3 of those attempts were over 13.30m. An impressive return to form for her here as she wins the contest convincingly.

That 13.43m solidifies her place in 3rd place on the 2023 European U23 rankings , but is just 7cm shy of the Q distance for the European U23s later this year. Hopefully she'll manage to get it in the coming weeks.

[Occasional Hope]

Nice for so early in the season.

[RunUnlimited]

More from the Florida Relay's collegiate meeting:

Yemi Mary John followed up her 23.91 200m run from yesterday with her first outdoor 400m run as a USC student athlete (the same college that Temi and Tade Ojora currently study and compete for). She came last in the opening heat in 52.42, though she was given a tough assignment out in lane 9. And despite this, the reigning World U20 400m champion and 2021 European U20 400m silver medallist - who doesn't turn 20 for another month - still managed to run the 4th fastest time of her young career. There is plenty of scope for improvement from here.

[RunUnlimited]

In the same race that saw Tade Ojora run 13.35 in the 110m hurdles, Sam Bennett (Harvard) continues his return to action after several years of injury setbacks with a 6th placed finish in 13.56. Like Ojora, Bennett was denied a substantial PB due to the +3.0 m/s wind reading, but this must be a great confidence boost for the 22 year old. And Bennett did manage to get a wind legal (+1.5 m/s) time of 13.79 in the heats, which finally improved his personal best over the senior hurdles that he's had since 2018 (14.31), the year he won the European U18 gold medal. Not only that, it also takes him under the European U23 Q time (13.90)!