U15/U17 Indoor Combined Event Championships and Indoor Junior Para Championships: Superb season finale
In what has been an action-packed, record-breaking indoor season, the U15 an U17 athletes in Sheffield were more than ready to bring down the curtain in style. The last act of an enthralling, exciting and very encouraging season was every bit as dramatic as anything that had gone on earlier. The age group combined events championships produced a fabulous finale. This is how the action unfolded:
Under-17 women’s pentathlon
Welsh athlete Tiana Odugbesan (Philip Warwicker, Cardiff Archers) set the early pace, crossing the line first in the 60H. Her 9.01 gave her 908 points but as ever it was close as just 0.01sec behind was Carys Francis (Craig Pounder, City of York). One down, four to go – this would be a close fought competition with the lead constantly swapping hands all afternoon. Next up was the high jump which saw exactly that as Leila Newth (Ealing and Southall and Middlesex) move into pole position having been just fifth after the first event with 1.57 to go with her 9.16 in the 60H. Francis went over 1.54 to stay in second while Seni Purnell (Andrew Fisher, Winchester) completed the top three – following her 9.15 60H with a 1.54 high jump of her own.
Francis used her strength to maximum effect and opened her shot account with 11.31 to take over first overall although the leader after the opening event, Odugbesan threw 11.76 in the second round to close the gap slightly. Purnell was a model of consistency and remained in third after 10.14 while Newth could only reach 9.37 metres for a distant 13th in that event. But as the stadium announcer said: it was still pretty close with just 69 points between the top two going into the long jump and not much more covering the top five. After the first round of the long jump there was still nothing to really separate the leaders as Francis opened her account with a modest 4.92. Odugbesan responded with 5.29 to edge back into the lead overall (ending the competition with 5.30), but it was still really tight. And then Newth, an U15 national champion in the long jump produced a huge 5.60 to really make it interesting as she took over the No.1 slot. With just the 800 metres to run, it was anybody’s title to win. Could Newth hang on to her 33-point lead? On paper she was the quickest, but could Odugbesan ease back into the gold medal slot or would Francis put that long jump disappointment behind her and haul back the 69-point difference?
Just like the competition as a whole, it was all very close through the opening couple of laps. Newth tracked Odugbesan through 400 metres in 75 seconds and then Odugbesan pushed hard on the third lap but she just couldn’t break away. In fact, Newth had more in the tank and sprinted hard at the bell to comfortably beat her closest rival going into that event to win the gold medal with 3459 points. But mirroring how things had unfolded all day, things changed behind Newth in terms of podium places. Gracie Osman (Andrew Fisher, Winchester) thanks to her superb 800 metres finished second with 3394 (after a 5.36 long jump which had hauled her into contention) and Purnell, as she appeared to have done all day, placed third with 3374. Drama all the way to the end.
“I’m very happy about it. I wasn’t expecting that,” Newth said afterwards. “I think the hurdles went the best, but I’m happy with how it all went.”
Under-17 men’s heptathlon
It was a case of PBs all round in the first event, the 60 metres as just about everybody clocked a lifetime best. First out of his blocks was Scotland’s Douglas Knox (Springburn Harriers) who ran a highly impressive 7.12 for 840 points. Behind him, James Howarth (Crewe and Nantwich) ran 7.20, while Oliver Downs (Alex Pope, Invicta East Kent) crossed the line in 7.21.
Nothing could really separate the field after the long jump as Knox and Downs both jumped 6.68. Given the combination of strength and technique needed to really excel, the shot can change things. Downs moved into the lead with 14.17 close to two metres further than anyone else in his pool. Downs and Knox remained locked together in the high jump both clearing 1.74. Downs called it a day at that height, but Knox had plenty more in the tank and eventually cleared 1.83 to close the gap in the overall lead to just a handful of points; 17 points to be precise. The overnight result read: 1, Downs 2866; 2, Knox 2849, 3, Nathan Mobbs (North Ayrshire) 2657. Day two would be interesting.
Para Championships
Age group championships are always all about development, but few athletes can claim to have produced quite some dramatic results as F56 athlete Chloe Lewis (Richard Chiassaro, Harlow). She won the first-ever seated shot put with 4.64 after being introduced to the event at a taster session in Lee Valley. Clearly, she has taken to the event in a big way as she won the national title!
Meanwhile, at the other side of the arena, an exciting long jump got things under way led by F64 U17 Macey Hand (Camila Stewart, Wenlock Olympians) who produced a fifth-round jump of 4.19. She was also the U17 60 winner with 9.44. F37 Savannah Marshall (Retford) won the U15 long jump with 2.30 and F37 Josh Pullen (BKS Disability) was the U15 boys’ winner with 3.48 (along with the 60 in 9.92).
In the U17 age group F20 Elliott Griffiths (Liverpool Harriers) produced a magnificent second round effort of 5.67 to take the gold medal. He was equally impressive in the 60 metres and ran a lifetime best of 7.78 close to a second clear of his rivals. “I think I could go a bit faster than that,” he told England Athletics social media in an interview after his race, “but I’m happy with what I’ve achieved.”
An F20 category runner, U20 Erin Barry (Border Harriers) produced arguably the best run of the day, as she soloed her way to 5:23.71. T20 Rory Brown (Matthew Viner, Yate and District) would perhaps argue that as he powered around the track in the U20 400 to dip inside 60 seconds for the first time with 59.87.
For all the results click here.