English athletes on medal winning form as Team England make history
English athletes gave a huge contribution as Team England made history on day five of the Commonwealth Youth Games, Team England enjoyed the nation’s best ever day at a Youth Games. Medals were secured in the pool, on the track and field, the beach volleyball court and in the boxing ring. By the end of an amazing session of sport, eight gold, two silver and four bronze medals had been won across the sports with England dominating the medal table.
At the track and in the field, England’s athletes were joining the medal party. Emma Howe (West Cheshire, Dave McKay) got the medal winning underway in the field. Her throw of 47.04 took bronze behind Josephine Lalam of Uganda (51.89) and Ellie Bowyer of Australia (50.64).
There was a fantastic 1-2 for England on the track in the sprint hurdles for Sam Bennett (Basildon AC, Steve Surety) and Jack Sumners (Stratford-upon-Avon, Paul Bearman) who clocked 13.71 and 13.85 (-0.4) respectively as they claimed the best possible result ahead of Denvaughn Whymns of the Bahamas (13.88). Team captain Sam Bennett said: “I feel amazing, it is so good that the whole team have done well today. It’s an honour to be part of the best ever day at a Commonwealth Youth Games. I’m glad I could do my bit.”
The result was only marginally less dominant for England in the boys' 800m. Alex Botterill (City of York, Andrew Henderson) and Joshua Allen (Middlesbrough (Mandale), Martin Peevor) won 800m gold and bronze in 1:52.22 and 1:53.09 respectively as Jordan Doris of Australia took silver in 1:52.82 to prevent another Team England 1-2.
In the girls 800m Anna Burt (Team Bath, Kevin Brunt) gained a silver with 2:05.31 behind the winner, Australian Carley Thomas's 2:05.04. Isabelle Boffey (Enfield & Haringey, Douglas Stone) was just out of the medals in fourth, less than three tenths of a second behind Canada's Aurora Rynda in 2:06.38.
Pippa Earley (Kingston & Poly, John Shepherd/ Lloyd Cowan) was one place out of the medals in the 100m hurdles. She ran 13.72 into 1.7 wind to take fourth. Claudia Lance-Jones (Guildford & Godalming, Sue Goode) took 7th in the 3000m final (9:58.76).
Both our 200m sprinters qualified through the semis to the finals which take place Sunday; Georgina Adam (Lincoln Wellington, Denise Timmis) was fourth fastest with a comfortable 24.74 for second in her semi-fianl. Chad Miller (Hercules Wimbledon, Paul Miller) clocked 21.76 to go through to his final, coming in third in a tight heat which was won in 21.70 by Joel Johnson of the Bahamas with a very competitive final in prospect.
The team's endeavours brought the total up to 6 medals for the day's athletics session.