Pawlett shines at the World Athletics Indoor Tour in Tallinn
A small team of three athletes travelled to Tallinn, Estonia to take part in the World Athletics Indoor Tour silver level meeting.
Sam Talbot (Sheffield and Dearne, John Lane), Abigail Pawlett (Trafford/Loughborough Students, Ashley Bryant) and Jordanna Morrish (Rafer Joseph, Basingstoke and Mid Hants) were flying the flag for England against some of Europe’s best up and coming combined-eventers. Lewis Church (Tonbridge, David Hull) was also selected for this competition, but had to withdraw ahead of travelling to Estonia due to injury.
Day 1
The men kickstarted their two days of heptathlon competition on Saturday starting with the 60m. Sam Talbot started strong with 6.91, taking two hundredths off his PB before progressing to the long jump. His furthest leap of 7.28m was his best distance since 2017 and his competition was progressing nicely. In the shot put, his throw of 13.18m was slightly down on his throw at Sheffield earlier this year, but still a strong effort. Unfortunately, during the high jump and the final event of the first day, Sam injured his ankle meaning he had to withdraw from the competition. We wish Sam all the best and a speedy recovery.
Day 2
The Pentathlon took place on the second day, with 29 athletes registered to compete in the silver level event, with many of the top European athletes vying for the valuable world ranking points.
It was a sensational day for Loughborough’s Abigail Pawlett as she recorded a lifetime best in the overall pentathlon to finish in 7th place overall with 4419 points. The competition saw Pawlett record three new lifetime bests in the 60m hurdles (8.24s), shot (14.04m) and long jump (6.13m) with a season’s best in the high jump (1.73m) before finishing with a respectable 2:24.31 in the 800m. This outstanding score extends her lead in the 2024 rankings, seeing her also move up to top 8 on the UK all-time list.
Jordanna Morrish also had a fantastic day of competition, securing two new lifetime bests in the 60m hurdles (9.00) and shot (11.31m), with 5.72m in the long jump, 1.64m in the high jump and 2:26.36 in the 800m. The excellent day of competition contributing to her overall score of 3813; just slightly under that achieved in Sheffield last month.
Team leader and coach for the weekend Darren Ritchie said:
"It was a great competition, and along with some great performances, the athletes learned from the competition experience which will serve them well for future competitions this year.
A big thank you to the meeting organiser Sirje Lippe for looking after the team and providing such a high-quality competition."