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England Athletics Senior & U20 Championships. Incorporating the Senior Para Championships, Powered by Citroën: A fab-u-lous Friday

The first of three days of superb competition got under way in fine style. With team places for the European Athletics U20 Championships in Tampere, Finland on 7-10 August up for grabs, the younger athletes’ events were always going to be centre of attention. But in a packed six-hour, Friday afternoon programme there was plenty more to get excited about in the seniors and U23s as well as the U20 age groups. Here’s how the evening unfolded:

Shaikira King (Wreake and Soare Valley) loves to front run her races so it was no surprise to see her fly to the lead after just 100m of the U20 women’s 800. She flew through 200 in the mid 28s, passed the bell in 58-flat and then stretched her lead even more on the back straight. She stopped the clock at 2:02.86, a CBP close to a full second faster than the 21-year-old record.

“I didn’t know I’d got the record until I finished,” she said afterwards. “I listened to the stadium commentary and that really spurred me on!”

Earlier, fans barely had barely settled into their seats before Charlotte Payne (Ian Pain, Newbury) opened her account in the women’s hammer with what proved to be an unbeatable 65.10. The No.3 of all-time improved to 66.78 to add another gold to her rapidly growing collection (her fourth successive title and counting). “I wanted to throw further, but it’s always an honour to win, so I’m really excited,” said Payne, adding she did have one minor concern. She wears lucky Bart Simpson socks and has done for all of her titles but now she is worried the good luck might be wearing off given she was six metres shy of her best! “This was my tenth Leonard (the fluffy Lion presented to podium winners),” she continued, which confirms that luck perhaps hasn’t quite worn off yet!

Taylor Campbell (John Pearson, Windsor Slough Eton and Hounslow) was in equally imperious form with a 70.72 victory, while Alice Howie (Matthew Evans, Worthing) edged further ahead in the UK U20 rankings thanks to her 55.11 personal best throw in the third round.

“I knew it was a good throw because I’d clipped the cage with the first two throws but the 55 was much better,” she explained, adding “I love this competition with people coming from all over the country. I’ve made so many friends, it’s great!”

On the track, the first final was the women’s 5000m which was a classic affair, the result in doubt until the final two strides. Katie Pye (Mick Woods, Aldershot Farnham District) entered the U20 women’s 5000m hoping for a top three slot but was rewarded with a gold medal, clocking 16:20.80. 4“That was great,” the European U18 champion over 3000m last season said afterwards. “I’ve been struggling all season, so I didn’t know what to expect.” For the record, she was the first to be named to the GB team for Finland. The senior winner, Bryony Gunn (Peter Stewart, Birchfield) overhauled her in the last few metres to win the race overall in 16:19.86. It was a completely different story for Jack Kavanagh (Holland Sports) who won the men’s race by the best part of 200m in 14:02.28.

The U20 women’s shot was super exciting for one athlete in particular as Alani Dumbuya (Simon Forster, Leigh) improved her PB to win in 14.93. It was a great competition that saw her qualify for the Europeans – not bad for a 17-year-old. “It was so stressful to get the qualifying, but I’ve done it now,” she said, hinting there’s more to come.

Back in the field, big throws were order of the day in the men’s javelin as Ben East (John Trower, Team Kennet) produced a 74.46 third round effort to win the England title, confirming his No.1 slot for 2025.

And finally, as is the tradition for a Friday night, the programme featured a set of cracking 1500m races. Perhaps the best race of the day came in the U20 women’s field which featured a European champion and a bronze medallist. Needless to say, it was a cagey affair with five still in with a chance to win with just 300m to run. But it was the European champion, Lyla Belshaw (David Smith, Colchester Harriers) who kicked the hardest with 200m left. She stretched away from the chasing pack and booked her seat on the plane for Finland with 4:18.19, more than a second clear.

In the para competition, the seated shot proved to be a really competitive event with PBs very much order of the day, all four throwing over eight metres. Scotland’s Adam Donnachie, F57 (Janelle McGurk, Central) led the way with 9.26 while Max Fiore, F34 (Bronwin Carter, City of Portsmouth) was more than happy with his 8.54 after what he describes as a poor season last year. And rightly so. After the Raza points were calculated, it was Fiore that was rewarded with the gold medal and national title. Ozioma Nlewedum, F56 (Alison O’Riordon, Enfield and Haringey) took the women’s title with 5.64.

Danny Berney, T37 (Sam Harrison, Leamington) took the men’s javelin with 35.51. “I really enjoy throwing against able-bodied athletes and the competition was really good,” he said afterwards.

Combined Events

U20 Women’s Heptathlon

Matilda Quick (Steve Ingram, Carmarthen), the U17 champion last year ran a controlled looking lifetime best of 14.29 in the opening event, the 100H. On that form, she confirmed she would be the athlete to watch. Behind her, personal bests were the order of the day which also perfectly illustrated the strength in depth we’re currently enjoying in this event. Isla Pain (Cheltenham and County) confirmed that with a 7cm PB and European qualifying jump of 1.82. That rocketed her to No.6 overall in the UK rankings for this season and proved a useful second event as it moved her to second (after her 14.71 100H), 2 points behind Quick (1.67, high jump). Quick then stretched her lead thanks to her 11.13 event winning throw in the shot before a 26.21 200m (just outside her PB) saw her head back to the hotel as the overnight leader.

U20 Men’s Decathlon

First out of the blocks both in terms of the programme and more importantly, the race was William Alexander (Michael Dyer, Reading) who powered to an early lead thanks to his 10.97 100m opening event. Of course, it’s early days with nine more events to follow, but it proved a good marker for what was to come. And indeed there was as it was all change after the long jump. Samuel Newton (Tonbridge) flew out to 7.17 (after his 11.53 100m) and the overall lead while Luke Pichler (Daniel Njai-Rowney, Blyth) was also in good form, jumping 6.88 (11.37 in the 100) to trail his rival by just 35 points after two events. The pack shuffled again after the shot as Kieran Bouwmeester-Reid (St Marys Richmond) moved into the lead thanks to his 14.21 shot (and 11.34 100m, and 6.74 long jump). Reef Page (Tonbridge) was also on the move as his 11.39, 6.76 and 13.70 combined to keep him within 37 points of the overall lead. Alexander rounded out the first three after his 13.64 shot. Things started to get really interesting after the high jump as Newton cleared 1.94 ahead of Pichler’s 1.88 to move from fifth back to the lead he occupied earlier in the evening.

The final event of the day – the 400m – saw Tom Bennett (Taunton) produce a superb 49.00 but behind him Newton was rewarded 50.95 which gave him the overnight lead. All to play for on Saturday.

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