Best of British performances on Day 2 of England Athletics Indoor Championships

Two British records were set in one race as Tom Bosworth (Club: Tonbridge AC, Coach: Andi Drake) and Callum Wilkinson (Club: Enfield & Haringey AC, Coach: Mick Graham) claimed England Athletics Indoor Race Walk titles. Sam Talbot (Club: Exeter Harriers, Coach: Eldon Lake) was in dominant form in the Under 20 Heptathlon to go second on the British all-time list for that event and the best performance ever by an Under 18 contesting a Junior Indoor Heptathlon.

Liam Ramsay (Club: Sheffield & Dearne, Coach: Mike Corden) retained his Senior title as Aiden Davies (Club: Doncaster, Coach: Bruce Bexley) was top Under 23 and Katie Stainton (Club: Birchfield Harriers, Coach: Kelly Sotherton) won both the Senior and Under 23 titles on the women’s side.

Race Walks

Tom Bosworth was looking to repeat his victory of 12 months ago and as it was he crossed the line to not only retain the Senior crown but also break his own personal best by 15 seconds and slice eight seconds off Belgrave Harrier Alex Wright’s 2013 British all-time mark with 11.15.81. In second place was Callum Wilkinson whose 11:39.87 took the junior mark beneath 12min for the first time, the previous best of 12:00.99 having been held by Dominic Hall (Club: Colchester Harriers, Coach: Andi Drake) since 2002.

The women’s title was also retained. Junior Emma Achurch (Club: Leicester Walking Club, Coach: Steve Arnold) clocked 14:34.67 and while Tatiana Gabellone was first home the Italian athlete was not eligible for the England title. The results also mean both Emma and Tom are to be selected for the Bratislava international meeting.

In the 1K mixed race for Under 15 and Under 13 athletes it was Suki Ly of Cambridge Harriers (Coach: Noel Carmody) who was first home in 5:00.24.

Click here for full results of the walk events

Under 20 Men’s Heptathlon

This year’s competition saw a dominating performance by Sam Talbot (Club: Exeter Harriers, Coach: Eldon Lake) who started Day Two on the same form as he had shown in the previous session.
Still a month away from his 17th birthday Sam put more daylight between himself and his rivals with an 8.05 60m hurdles at the start of the day. The 969 points earned saw him almost 500 points clear of second placed Tom Chandler (Club: Central AC, Coach: Ian Grant). Joseph Hobson (Club: Sheffield & Dearne, Coach: Mike Corden) used the event to move back up the rankings as his 8.42/ 879 points meant he was second quickest and back into a medal position. Dylan Carlsson-Smith (Club: Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers, Coach: Ian Grant) remained fourth with an 8.72 gaining 809 points.

Joseph was best of all in the high jump, as his 1.99 / 794 points moved him up into the silver medal position he had held for much of day one. A 1.87 (687 points) clearance kept Sam almost 400 points clear with 4687 points. Tom Chandler’s 1.78 / 610 points ensured he stayed in a medal position with Dylan closing the gap through a 1.84/ 661 points high jump.

Tom was quickest of all the field in the final event, the 1000m, and his 2:43.80 / 832 points moved him to within 22 points of silver. But Joseph’s 2:54.45 was enough to hold on to that medal. Sam was second quickest of the field at 1,000m with 2:44.60 for 823 points taking him to a highly impressive 5510 total and a winning margin that was just 5 shy of 500 points. To put that performance in context it is second only to David Guest’s 5793 from 2010 on the all-time list for British Junior’s and the best ever in a Junior Indoor Heptathlon by a British Under 18. Last year the best performance globally by an under 18 in this event was 5517 points – just seven points higher. This is in addition to his long jump yesterday being a UK indoor best for an Under 18.

Click here for for full results of the Under 20 Men’s Heptathlon

Senior and Under 23 Men’s Heptathlon

Having led overnight Liam Ramsay made sure of retaining his 2015 title with his performances on Day Two. He was quickest in the 60m Hurdles to claim 947 points for his 8.14 clocking and add more daylight to the gap between himself and his challengers. The second quickest was Jack Andrew (Club: Sale Harriers Manchester, Coach: Ian Grant) who had been in sixth place overnight but was now just 16 points off the medal positions courtesy of his 8.27/ 915 points.

With the pole vault often an event to shake things up further Jack then went clear at 4.70, highest of all and 819 points, to move into silver medal position. Liam was one of four athletes to clear at 4.40 (731 points) meaning that he was now more than 300 points clear with Birchfield’s Matthew Lee (Coach: Ian Grant) leading under 23 and third overall 67 points up on Aiden Davies – his nearest rival in both battles.

With Matthew not starting the 1000m a fight for the medal positions was on. Liam was quickest of all with 2:40.47 to claim 868 and a total of 5758. Jack was second quickest to claim second spot (2:42.36/ 847 points) with a total of 5383 as Aiden Davies was fourth fastest overall to make certain of the Under 23 title and third overall (2:43.44/ 836 points, 5242 total).

Click here for full results of the Senior and Under 23 Men’s Heptathlon

Senior and Under 23 Women Pentathlon

Day Two of the championships saw the Senior Women in action in the pentathlon and it was Katie Stainton who claimed both the Senior and Under 23 titles. But it was a tight battle with Marilyn Nwawulor (Club: Harrow AC, Coach: Lloyd Cowan) who led up until the very last event.

An 8.37 60 hurdles had given Marilyn top spot after the first event with Stainton seventh quickest with 8.82 for 948 points. The high jump saw the two duelling it out with Katie closing the gap with a jump of 1.75 for 916 points while Marilyn was second highest with her 1.72 earning 879 points. With Jessica Taylor (Club: Sale Harriers Manchester, Coach: Mike Holmes) not contesting the second event due to a sore calf the pair were now one and two with Marilyn leading on 1925 to 1864 points. Up into third was another Under 23, Niamh Bailey (Club: Corby AC, Coach: Alex Clark).

In the shot the best performance came from Jo Rowland (Club: Crawley AC, Coach: Antonio Minichiello) with 12.87 (719 points) and this saw her move into a medal position. Still Marilyn led and extended her lead further with a 11.89 (654 points) second furthest of all to Katie’s 10.88 (587 points) as she retained second place.

The long jump saw that gap closed again. Katie was the only athlete over 6m with 6.03/ 859 points as Niamh moved back into the third with a 5.92/ 825 and Marilyn was third furthest with 5.85/ 804 points to go into the final events with a margin of 73 points.

The 800m saw Jo quickest of all the medal contenders. A 2:22.87/ 785 points put her back into the medal positions. But just off her pace was Katie whose 2:23.51 recorded 776 points and 102 more than Marilyn’s 2:31.48 to take gold from the Harrow athlete by 29 points.

Click here for full results of the Senior and Under 23 Women’s Pentathlon

Day One report

Click here to look back at the Day One report including the Under 20 Women's Pentathlon

Photo courtesy of Andy Chubb; contact him for more or to buy www.peverilphoto.com