All the action from the British Indoor Champs

The weekend was full of action in Birmingham at the UK Athletics Indoor Championships with team spots secured for the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands next month. Here’s a breakdown of the weekend's events. 

Day One 

Sprints 

The 60m sprints marked the start of the weekend with the women kickstarting the action. Titleholder, Amy Hunt (Charnwood, Marco Airale) was the fastest to qualify with a season’s best time of 7.21, closely followed by Bianca Williams (Thames Valley Harriers, Linford Christie) with a qualifying time of 7.29. However, after a slip out of the blocks for Hunt, Williams went on to take her first senior title in the final with a personal best of 7.19 and only fourth place for Hunt. In the men’s 60m, Jeremiah Azu (Cardiff, Helen Patricia James) stormed the field in the heats and semi-finals and then went on to retain his title in the final with a time of 6.56, matching his personal best.  

In the 60m para finals, Sophie Hahn (Charnwood, Leon Baptiste) held off youngster Madeline Down (Halesowen, Mike Bennett) to take the win in the women’s race, with a season’s best time of 8.12. In the men’s final, Zac Shaw (Cleethorpes, Leon Baptiste) took the win with a time of 7.07.  

In the women’s 60m hurdles, Emma Nwofor (Thames Valley, Linford Christie) and Abigail Pawlett (Trafford, Ashley Bryant) went head-to-head for the fastest qualifying spot, both with times of 8.18. Katarina Johnson-Thompson (Liverpool, Aston Moore) just missed out in 8th with a season’s best time of 8.41. In the end, it was Pawlett who took the title with a personal best of 8.09. To conclude the day’s finals on track, Daniel Goriola (Blackheath & Bromley, Tony Jarrett) stormed to victory with a personal best time of 7.76 in the men’s race. 

Pole vault  

Over at the pole vault, Owen Heard (Harrow, Kate Rooney) claimed back-to-back titles with an opening height clearance of 5.26m. Later in the day, Nemiah Munir (Thames Valley Harriers, Richard Humby) dominated the women’s pole vault by clearing 4.21m. 

Horizontal Jumps 

In the men’s triple jump, it was Efe Uwaifo (Harrow, Daniel Hooker) who secured the indoor title with a best mark of 15.64m. It was a great effort from Jordan Aki-Sawyerr (Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow, Femi Akinsanya) in second place with a personal best jump of 15.61m, just 3cm short of Uwaifo. To conclude the finals for day one, Alice Hopkins (Oxford City, Linford Christie) battled multi-events specialist, Jade O’Dowda, (Newham, John Lane) in the women’s long jump with a jump, remaining composed to take the win with a new indoor PB of 6.59m.  

Day two  

Sunday was all about the finals with the triple jump, long jump, and high jump kicking things off. 

Jumps 

Georgina Forde-Wells (Woodford Green & Essex, Lukasz Zawila) was crowned champion in the women’s triple jump to start the day strong. Forde-Wells jumped 7cm further than silver medallist Adelaide Omitowoju (Harrow, Benjamin Davies), with a winning jump of 13.36m. In the men’s long jump, Jacob Fincham-Dukes (Leeds City, Matt Barton) took the victory with 7.69m, but unfortunately sustained an injury and was not able to continue in the competition. 

Over at the men’s high jump, a huge personal best of 2.20m secured the title for Youth Talent Programme athlete, Otis Poole (Yate & District, Joy Bray), who jumped 5cm higher than the rest of the field. Morgan Lake (Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow) claimed back-to-back titles in the women’s competition with 1.94m, 10cm more than second place.  

Throws  

Serena Vincent (City of Portsmouth, Mike Winch) took the title over at the shot put circle, with a dominant throw of 16.89m. Scott Lincoln (City of York, Paul Wilson) claimed his 9th British title in the men’s field with a championship record throw of 20.86m.  

Endurance 

The first finals on the track were the men’s and women’s 3000m walk. Cambridge Harrier’s Hannah Hopper (Noel Carmody) dominated the race and took the title clocking 14:21.97. Jessica Wilton (Ashford, Christopher Hobbs) picked up the silver with a time of 15:28.50. In the men’s competition, it was Callum Wilkinson (Enfield & Haringey) who claimed victory in 11:12.44.  

Next up on track was the men’s 3000m which went right down to the wire, in the end it was George Mills (Brighton Phoenix, Thomas Dreissigacker) who just pipped James West (Tonbridge, Helen Clitheroe) for the title, clocking a new championship record of 7:40.16. In the women’s race, the competition was just as fierce with Hannah Nuttall (Charnwood, Helen Clitheroe) and Laura Muir (Dundee Hawkhill Harriers, Laura Weightman) fighting it out for the title, but it was Nuttall who had the strongest kick at the end to take the win in 8:49.49.  

The action was just as exciting in the 1500m finals. Scot Neil Gourley (Giffnock North, Stephen Haas) was able to hold off Thomas Keen (Cambridge & Coleridge, Mark Vile) and Tyler Bilyard (Great Yarmouth & District, Jethro McGraw) to clock a new championship record of 3:38.84. Georgia Hunter Bell (Belgrave Harriers, Trevor Painter) retained her title with a time of 4:13.23 in the women’s race. 

Sprints 

In the men’s 400m, Alex Haydock-Wilson (Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow, Dai Greene) held off Joshua Faulds (Rugby & Northampton, James Wright) for the title with a time of 46.70 and 46.85 respectively, a PB for Faulds. The women’s race was just as thrilling, with Amber Anning (Brighton & Hove, Lloyd Cowan) and Lina Nielsen (Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers, Tony Lester) battling it out to the line. In the end, Anning took the title in 51.40 with 400m hurdles specialist, Nielsen, clocking a personal best of 51.77. The sprints action was wrapped up with the 200ms, with Alyson Bell (Giffnock North, Anne Scott) running a PB of 23.12 in the women’s race to take the win. In the men’s race, Joe Ferguson (Sheffield & Dearne, Richard Kilty) also ran a personal best to take victory in 20.93.  

Middle Distance 

The 800m finals concluded the action at this year’s Championships, Justin Davies (Team Bath, Martin Rush) stormed across the line in 1:47.26, holding off Jack Higgins (Tonbridge, Mark Hookway) and Thomas Randolph (Tamworth, Craig Winrow) for the British title.

In the women’s race, Isabelle Boffey (Enfield & Haringey, Luke Gunn) claimed the title on the line in 2:04.24, with Grace Vans Agnew (Brighton Phoenix, Daniel Stepney) and Shaikira King (Wreake & Soar Valley, John Skevington) claiming second and third place just behind.