England Athletics Age Group Combined Events Champs and U20 Home Countries International: Battle of the ages
Windsor Castle provided a stunning backdrop to this exciting championship which features the country’s best combined eventers, along with four international teams battling it out head-to-head in the last major age-group meeting of the season. In some instances, the favourites were crowned champions, but day one of this two-day event proved it can be as much about the new pretenders as it is the established guard.
U17 Women’s Heptathlon
Last year’s U15 champion, Molly Mills (Sale Harriers) (coach: Jessica Taylor-Jemmett; club: Sale Harriers Manchester) got things under way with an event-leading 11.64 in the 80m hurdles. But it was Wales’s Matilda Quick (Steve Ingram, Swansea) and Isla Pain (Marie Burnett, Cheltenham and County Harriers) who both cleared 1.64 in the high jump and took over as the leading two. Next up was the shot, which saw Quick increase her lead with 12.98. Pain threw 10.65, while Mills could only close the gap slightly with 10.98. However, the 200m shuffled the pack again as Pain’s 27.13 saw her lose points compared to Mills’ 25.87 and Quick’s 26.40. All of which meant as day one closed, Quick led from Mills and Pain, 3079 to 2829 and 2827pts.
U15 Girls Hexathlon
Welsh athlete Tiana Odugbesan (Philip Warwicker, Cardiff Archers) took the early lead thanks to her fastest ever 75m hurdles of 11.49. Talia Northcott (Craig Pounder, City of York) responded with a 5.52m long jump, which combined with her 11.82 hurdles moved her into the lead, while teammate Carys Francis (City of York) added 5.20 long jump to her 11.46 opener to keep it close at the top. Odugbesan moved back to pole position after the javelin where she threw 29.50. Behind her, Northcott ended day one with 24.04 which placed her third overall while Jasmine Nkoso (Herne Hill) moved into second after her 35.43 (and 12.13 and 5.09). It’s all to play for on day two.
U17 Men’s Decathlon
There’s no better way to start a decathlon than with a personal best. And that’s exactly what Ruben Stovell (John Lane, Hallamshire) did in the 100, powering to an impressive looking 11.34. He’s enjoyed a great summer and started the competition, if not the no.1 name to watch, then certainly one of two standout competitors. Luke Pichler (Rob Wilson, Blyth) was the other athlete to keep an eye on as he too is enjoying a superb 2024. He followed up his 11.67 in the 100 with a massive 6.57m in the second round of the long jump to ease into the lead. Of course, with just two events completed it was early days, and plenty were still in touch at this point in what proved a fascinating first day.
The shot showed that as Oliver Downs (Invicta) produced a huge 14.85 with his final throw in the shot to move from fifth to first. Pichler had to settle for 11.50 which dropped him back in the overall standings to third while Stovell remained in second thanks to his 13.25 opening effort. Things tightened after the high jump but stayed in the same in terms of the overall positions, Downs leading from Stovell and Pichler. The high jump, however, is one of Pichler’s stronger events and he seized his opportunity, clearing 1.87. Downs had to call it a day at 1.72 while Stovell cleared 1.69. Downs ended the day in magnificent style, improving by close to two seconds in the 400, winning his heat in 52.66. That laid down a marker Stovell, a one-lap specialist. He powered to 49.67 while Pichler was down the field slightly with 54.97. All of which meant it was Stovell who headed back to the hotel as the overnight leader from Downs, 3453 to 3361pts. Pichler completed the top three with 3293.
U15 Boys Octathlon
Every now and then, one performance really catches the eye and that came in the form of Zac Lam’s (Adrian Hemery, Middlesex Schools) 100m. According to this year’s rankings he doesn’t have a personal best for the short sprint, but after just 11.80 seconds he does have one now which meant he headed to the second event with a comfortable lead. He slipped back to second after the javelin with Tristan Lamprecht’s (Macclesfield) huge throw of 50.03, which with his 12.08 100 metres moved him 119 points clear of Lam.
In a very long pole vault competition that lasted three hours – well done athletes and huge thanks to the officials – Lamprecht emerged with a PB of 3.06. But Oliver Cooper (Matt Cullen, Bury) and Max Merriman (Guildford and Godalming) didn’t enter the competition until 3.56. Cooper then went on to clear 3.66, which meant it was all to run for in the 400, the final event of day one. Lam was once again superb, clocking 55.61, but Lamprecht was equal that and ran 55.59 to maintain the top spot going into Sunday. Merriman closed hard for 58.19 to ease into second place.
U20 Home countries International
England’s A team took the match title, although one of the most exciting races of the afternoon was the men’s 400 which saw Alexander Beck (Winchester), representing England B, just take the win thanks to a superb closing 50 metres. He clocked 47.86.
“It was a good race and I executed my race plan how I wanted to,” he said, explaining how the win was all down to perfect timing. “I’m really chuffed as I have been struggling to get under 48 this season.”
Equally impressive was Dylan Williams (Tamunonengiye-Ofor Assai, BFT Track Academy) who won the 100 for England A in 10.77. It’s been a sensational week for the London-based athlete as he flew to 10.53 just six days earlier.
Earlier, Stephanie Okoro (Tony Benton, Havering) won the first event, the 400H in 58.73. “I’m really happy with that as it was a season’s best. I did mess up the back-straight a bit, but luckily I quickly got back into my rhythm.”
Another England A competitor was Travis Anderson (Durham) who looked very smooth on his way to 54.76 in the ambulant 400, just 0.02sec shy of his season’s best time.
“It went really well considering I had to pull out a couple of weeks ago in Birmingham. I can’t really ask for anything more,” he said. “I’ve been working really hard in training with limited access to a track so being part of the Youth Talent Programme has been really important to me.”
Alex Sprostson (Kyle Bennett, Crawley) produced a huge PB in the 2000 steeplechase to clock 5:51.13, a best by 18 seconds and the fastest in the country this year.
“This was the last race of the season for the track so it’s on to the cross and come back next season faster. Hopefully I can make the Euro U23s,” he said.
To cap a great day, England produced some mightily impressive relay performances, highlighted by the men’s team flying to a slick 41.00, one of the fastest ever of all time in the 4x100 and an equally swift 3:14.71 in the 4x400. Not to be outdone, the women ran 46.06 and 3:43.51.
Event information
- All images will be available to purchase here after the event
- Saturday live streaming
- Sunday live streaming
- Results