Charlie through to the final
Charlie Grice (handicap -6.3) showed maturity beyond his years to qualify for the 1500m final at the IAAF World Athletics Championships yesterday.
Charlie's gutsy performance saw him finish fourth in the quicker of the two semi-finals. The last bend saw Grice in danger of missing out on an automatic spot, but the 22 year old fought hard in the closing stages to cross the line in 3:35.58.
"I didn’t want to get stuck on the inside like yesterday, so I made sure after 800m, I moved out a bit. I followed (Taoufik) Makhloufi and I’m glad I stayed out of trouble. I knew they were coming back to me, but I just gritted my teeth and pushed to the line,” said a jubilant Grice.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment all year since I fell at the Europeans. I wanted to seize the opportunity I had today to make the final, and I’m just glad I did.”
Unfortunately despite battling all the way to the end of the first semi-final, Chris O’Hare (handicap -6.1) was edged out into seventh place in 3:44.36, which wasn’t enough to join his compatriot.
Shara Proctor broke the seven metre barrier for the first time in her career on her way to winning long jump silver.
After edging her way through qualifying, Proctor found her range with two seven metre jumps in consecutive rounds. She jumped 7.07m on her third attempt saw the 26 year old add nine centimetres to her British record, before following up with 7.01m in the following round.
Only a world-leading 7.14m jump from USA’s Tianna Bartoletta in the final round prevented Proctor from winning British Athletics’ fourth gold medal of the championships. However, the British record holder was delighted to finally get amongst the medals at the fifth time of asking.
Proctor said: “I’m numb right now, I don’t know what to feel, I am speechless. But I’m happy most of all. It’s my fifth champs and I finally did it – I got on the podium.
“It’s a silver medal but I still feel like a winner. It’s been a long ride. I was on crutches last year at this time, I had to learn to walk and to learn to run and today I just put it all together and finally executed.”
There was also a superb fifth for Lorraine Ugen, who finished with a best of 6.85m, while Katarina Johnson-Thompson ended in 11th place with 6.63m.
British Athletics medals at the IAAF World Championships, Beijing, China
Gold–
Mo Farah (10,000m)
Jessica Ennis-Hill (Heptathlon)
Greg Rutherford (Long jump)
Silver –
Shara Proctor
For a full round up of the latest results in Beijing go to the British Athletics website and follow the action on Twitter.