European U18 Champs well underway in Jerusalem
It was a fantastic opening for Great Britain and Northern Ireland as athletes progressed to finals at the European under 18 Athletics championships over teh first two days.
Iris Downes (handicap 0-.1) and Ella Greenway (handicap 0.4) safely booked their places in Thursday’s 800m final recording times of 2:07.23 and 2:09.05 respectively.
Downs commented post-race, “I’m really pleased, it was a pretty fast race, they went off quite fast over the first 200m so I had to tell myself to relax, and they will come back to me, which they did. It was much closer than I thought but I had saved something for the final 100m”.
Greenway added, “I can safely say that is the fastest heat I have ever run. The leader took the race out, but I controlled my race and had enough left at the end to outsprint the other girl to qualify for the final.”
In the 1500m, Tendai Nyabadza (handicap -4.2.) and Corey Campbell (handicap -4.5) both qualified for Wednesday’s final in differing styles.
Nyabadza ran 3:54.46 to win heat two of two, while Campbell had to rely upon a fastest non-automatic qualifying spot having finished fifth in the opening heat in a time of 3:55.46. The heat was won in a Championship record time of 3:53.68 by Niels Laros (NED) and the high tempo nature of the heat certainly aided Campbell’s progression to the final.
Luke Birdseye (handicap -3.4) and Oliver Patton (handicap -2.4) both booked their places in the 2000m steeplechase final in the opening event of the session. Birdseye finished inside the top five to qualify automatically from heat one with a time of 5:58.85, whilst Patton ran 5:57.83 in a much quicker second heat to claim the first fastest non-automatic qualifier spots.
Birdseye commented after the race: “I’m pretty happy with that, I think there is more time there for sure come the final. With 2 laps to go, I could see we were clear of the second group so I could afford to control my effort and save myself for the final.
Patton added: “I felt good, I knew what time I had to run to qualify so I kept calm and made it through. It’s all about resting up now and coming back strong for the final.”
The boys 3000m final today brings the session to a close with James Knockton (handicap -4.1) and Edward Bird (handicap -4.2).
A live stream and live results will be available on the European Athletics website.