June 2024: Performance round up
Rounding off with the UK Athletics Championships, which this year acted as the Olympic trials, June has been a busy month of competitions. English athletes shone at the European Championships in Rome, our first England representative para athletics teams excelled in Nottwil and Paris and Molly Caudery and Callum Wilkinson set new British records.
Despite the wet conditions at the Toulouse Capitole Perche pole vault street event, Molly Caudery (Thames Valley Harriers, Stuart Caudery) set a new British record of 4.92m on her second attempt. In doing so she achieved a personal best by 6cm, set the world lead and climbed to 7th on the all-time rankings. What a great achievement heading into an Olympic summer!
At the UK Athletics Championships in Manchester, Callum Wilkinson (Enfield & Haringey, Rob Heffernan) displayed fine form in the 10,000m race walk as he smashed his own national record by 22 seconds.
Para athletes impressing on the world stage
Our very first England representative para athletics team competed at the Nottwil Grand Prix in Switzerland. For some of the athletes this was their international debut and they all rose to the occasion with a mix of personal and season’s bests. Team Manager Vicky Griffiths said,
“In this Paralympic year we wanted to ensure our England athletes had the best opportunity to perform and the team did just that! Let’s keep this momentum going for the rest of the season!”
Following from this success, another England para athletics team travelled to Paris to compete in the Handisport WPA Paris. Again, there were lots of personal and season’s bests from the England team, with Rosie Porter (Herts Phoenix, Catherine Walker) achieving personal bests in both the T38 100m and 400m. In the men’s T38 100m, reigning Paralympic champion Thomas Young (Loughborough Students, Joe McDonnell) clinched the top spot in 10.98 just 0.01 ahead of his competitor Dimitri Jozwicki.
The first ten athletes have been selected for the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games, including four English athletes. We are pleased to see Hannah Cockroft (Leeds City, Paul Moseley), Kare Adenegan (Coventry, Job King), Jonathan Broom-Edwards (Newham and Essex Beagles, Beth Partridge) and Dan Pembroke (Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow, John Trower) returning to the Paralympics to hopefully bring home more medals.
European Championship success for GB & NI
Over 70 athletes headed to Rome for the European Athletics Championships representing Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The medal charge was led by Dina Asher-Smith (Blackheath and Bromley, Edrick Floréal), who returned with two gold medals in the women’s 100m and 4x100m relay with teammates Desiree Henry (Enfield & Haringey, Steve Fudge), Amy Hunt (Marco Airale) and Daryll Neita (Cambridge Harriers, Marco Airale).
The endurance contingent also performed well with a superb seven medals between them, including two golds. Coming into the championships as favourite certainly adds some pressure but Keely Hodgkinson (Leigh AC, Trevor Painter) took it in her stride to take gold in the final in a time of 1:58.65. Over the half marathon it was a team gold for the quartet of Calli Thackery (Hallamshire), Clara Evans (Pontypridd, Chris Jones), Abbie Donnelly (Lincoln Wellington, Rob Lewis), and Lauren McNeil (Hallamshire).
Of the 61 English athletes selected to compete in Rome, 14 are currently connected with England Athletics, whether they feature on the Senior Programme or receive support from one of our Talent Hub locations, supported by London Marathon Events and TASS.
Junior athletes excel in Mannheim
Four strong relay teams led the success for the U20 Great Britain and Northern Ireland team at the Mannheim International, as more athletes secured qualification standards for the World Athletics U20 championships in Lima. The men’s 4x400m relay team made up of Stanley Chevous (Lee Bowker, Ipswich), Sam Lunt (Wirral), Demari Gumbs (Windsor Slough Eton and Hounslow) and Alex Houchin (Stewart Marshall, Worcester) ran a world U20 lead time of 3:07.15. Athletes also impressed in the field, including Blackheath and Bromley’s Cleo Agyepong (John Hillier) who set a new personal best of 15.35m in the shot put.
British talent on show at the Olympic qualifiers
The UK Athletics Championships always showcase the best talent in athletics in this country, but this year the talent was shining even brighter as athletes were competing for their place on the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic team. Whilst the wet conditions in Manchester were not favourable, many athletes set new championships records.
One athlete to achieve this feat was Lizzie Bird (Shaftesbury Barnet, Pat McCurry), who set a new 3000m steeplechase championship record of 9:29.67 to claim gold and book her spot in Paris. In a hotly contested 5000m race, Hannah Nuttall (Charnwood AC, Helen Clitheroe) timed her charge for the line to perfection as she moved from third to first in the final few metres to claim victory. Following his recent NCAAs triumph, Louie Hinchliffe (Sheffield & Dearne, Carl Lewis) finished strong in the men’s 100m final to clinch the gold from Welsh athlete Jeremiah Azu (Cardiff AC, Marco Airale).
On day two, the standout performance came from Phoebe Gill (St Albans AC, Deborah Steer), who at just 17 years old led almost from gun to tape to take the gold in the 800m ahead of Scotland’s Jemma Reekie (Kilbarchan, Jon Bigg). By finishing in the top two having already achieved the qualification time, the pair have confirmed their place in the Olympic team. Georgia Bell (Belgrave Harriers, Trevor Painter) continued this fine form for English endurance athletes as she emerged victorious in the women’s 1500m ahead of Scotland’s Laura Muir (Dundee Hawkhill, Steve Vernon).
Talent pathway athletes selected as part of a strong European U18 squad
The new senior UK Athletics champion over two laps, Phoebe Gill, heads up a strong contingent heading to Banska Bystrica, Slovakia later this month (18-21 July) for the U18 European Championships. Phoebe's Commonwealth Youth Games teammate and triple silver medallist, Thea Brown (Sale Harriers, Joanne Harding), will compete in the heptathlon. Also, joining the team are 11 more England talent pathway athletes:
- Rae Le Fay (2000m SC)
- Daisy Snell (Long Jump)
- Ella Woods (Long Jump)
- Ava John (Heptathlon)
- Tom Waterworth (800m)
- Matthew McKenna (800m)
- Toby Wright (110m hurdles)
- Liam Conway (3000m)
- Dillon Millard (2000m SC)
- Regan Corrin (High Jump)
- Louis Tutcher (Hammer)