Indoor update: England teams for Vienna and Bratislava
England Athletics will this week give international opportunities to 21 athletes – some seeking qualification for the World Indoor Championships to be staged in Valencia, Spain, on 7-9 March; others seeking to re-establish their credentials after injury breaks; and youngsters deserving experience as they make the tough transition from Junior to Senior competition.
The England Athletics team to compete at the Teilnahmemöglichkeiten beim Indoor Classic in Vienna, Austria, on Tuesday 29 January is:
Men – 60m: Ryan Scott (Yate and District AC). 400m: Jordan McGrath (Solihull and Small Heath AC). 800m: Richard Hill (Notts AC). 1500m: James Brewer (Cheltenham and County Harriers). 60m hurdles: David Hughes (Trafford AC), Nick Gayle (Sale Harriers Manchester). Long jump: Jonathan Moore and Nathan Morgan (both Birchfield Harriers). Triple jump: Julian Golley (Windsor, Slough, Eton and Hounslow AC) and Tosin Oke (Woodford Green with Essex Ladies).
Women – 400m: Celia Brown (Rugby and Northampton AC) and Helen Karagounis (Birchfield Harriers). 60m hurdles: Sara McGreavy (Sale Harriers Manchester). Pole vault: Ellie Spain (Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers). Long jump: Sarah Wellstead (Belgrave Harriers).
The England Athletics team to compete at the Elan Meeting in Bratislava, Slovakia, on Thursday 31 January is:
Men – 60m: Danny Doyley (Blackheath and Bromley). 200m: Jeffrey Lawal Balogun (Kent AC). 400m: Conrad Williams (Kent AC). 800m: Ed Aston (Cambridge and Coleridge AC). 60m hurdles: Julian Adeniran (Charnwood AC). Triple jump: Gary White (Cardiff AAC).
Women – 400m: Celia Brown (Rugby and Northampton AC). 60m hurdles: Meghan Beesley (Tamworth AC) and Sara McGreavy (Sale Harriers Manchester). High jump: Vikki Hubbard (Grantham AC) and Jessica Leach (Birchfield Harriers).
The teams will be managed by Alan Richardson, the England Athletics East Midlands Region Coach Development Officer, and Carol Jackson, the vastly experienced high jump coach who organises the successful Bedford International Games each summer.
The tough nature of the Valencia qualifying times was underlined at the Norwich Union International at the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, on Saturday: the standards were achieved by only four of the England athletes who scored victories for the Norwich Union Great Britain and Northern Ireland team.
Craig Pickering (Marshall Milton Keynes AC) clinched match victory over the USA, Germany, Commonwealth Select and Sweden by storming home in the final event, the 60m in 6.57 seconds. It gave him a kind of revenge over the man who beat him to the 100m gold medal at last summer’s European Under 23 Championships: Simeon Williamson (Highgate Harriers) was second on this occasion in 6.65, spot on the Valencia standard. While Williamson was representing the Commonwealth, Ryan Scott (Yate and District AC) guested before flying out with the England team to Austria and was third in 6.69.
Jeanette Kwakye (Woodford Green with Essex Ladies), who lives in the area of East London that will stage the 2012 Olympics, won the Women’s 60m in a season’s best of 7.23, seven-hundredths of a second inside the Valencia standard.
Jenny Meadows (Wigan and District AC) showed a clean pair of heels to her 800m rivals, clocking 2:02.89, well inside the Valencia standard of 2:04.00.
And Katrina Wootton (Bedford and County AC) was equally assertive in the 3000m, winning in 9:03.87, again beating the Valencia standard of 9:05.00.
Other winners to get close to World Indoors qualifying marks were England’s Commonwealth Games Champion Lisa Dobriskey (Ashford AC) in the 1500m (her time of 4:16.30 is just three-tenths outside the Valencia target) and Richard Buck (City of York AC) in the 400m (47.76 seconds a week after clocking 47.05, inside the Valencia standard of 47.10). And Chris Tomlinson (Newham and Essex Beagles) opened his long jump season with a 7.86m victory leap; the Valencia standard is 8.10m.
For all the results from Glasgow, please click on http://www.ukathletics.net/results/20080126_glasgow/
Four of last weekend’s English territorial indoor champions enjoyed victories at the Woodies DIY Irish Indoor Championships at the Odyssey Arena, Belfast, this weekend.
Sarah Claxton (Woodford Green with Essex Ladies), who made the short journey home from Lee Valley Athletics Centre last weekend with three South of England gold medals – for the 60m hurdles, long jump and, most satisfying of all, the 60m sprint – won the Irish 60m hurdles title in 8.13 seconds, only three-hundredths outside the qualifying time for the World Indoors.
Northern sprints double champion Anyika Onuora (Liverpool Harriers) scorched to 60m success in a season’s best of 7.38 seconds, within eight-hundredths of the Valencia qualifying time.
Southern 400m champion Tara Bird (also WG&EL) won the 800m in 2:10.6 before settling back to her favourite distance in weeks to come.
And Richard Strachan (Leeds City AC), the Northern 200m champion, enjoyed his first outing of the year over his favourite distance: he won the men’s 400m in 47.53 seconds and needs 47.10 if he is to stand a chance of qualifying for the World Indoors. But the competition is hot: his fellow Yorkshireman Buck and South of England Champion Steve Green (Newham and Essex Beagles) both clocked 47.05 last weekend.
The other two England winners at the Odyssey were Melanie Purkiss (Team Southampton) in the 400m (55.57 seconds) and Dan Cossins (Birchfield) in the 200m (21.85).
England’s Commonwealth Games pole vault fourth-placer Kate Dennison (Sale Harriers Manchester) continued her fine start to the indoor season by finishing third at the 3rd annual Springermeeting in Dresden, Germany, on Friday night. After winning her previous two competitions at 4.35m and 4.23m, she cleared 4.30m to snatch third place on count back at one of Germany’s increasingly prestigious ‘jumping to music’ meetings, which attracted competitors from a dozen nations. Lisa Ryzih (Germany) won with 4.40m, the qualifying height for this winter’s IAAF World Indoors.
Report by Trevor Frecknall
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