2010 Aviva European Trials & UK Championships

Alexander Stadium, Birmingham

Friday 25th June 2010 – Day 1

LAURA Samuel smashed the British junior triple jump record with a mark of 13.52 metres (0.8m/s) to win the United Kingdom senior title and qualify for next months World Junior Championships in Canada, highlighting the opening evening’s action at the Aviva European Trials in Birmingham.

On the infield of the Alexander Stadium, the 19-year-old Loughborough College student coached by Glenys Morton continued her stellar season following her success in winning the U20 England title the previous weekend in Bedford the Leicester athlete stepped up in class to claim the United Kingdom senior title with a superb performance surpassing her previous lifetime best of 13.32m set in Loughborough at the National Junior League fixture back in April, securing victory with a final round leap of 13.52m.

Nadia Williams was runner-up with 13.49m as Zainab Ceesay with 12.74 completed the podium places.

This fine performance also confirms Samuel’s qualification for the IAAF World Junior Championships that take place in Moncton, Canada, next month.

On the track and fresh from his sub-ten seconds (9.99) success for Great Britain at the European Team Championships in Bergen, Norway, Dwain Chambers was fastest qualifier in the men’s 100m heats clocking 10.18secs with Loughborough University student James Dasaolu, ten years Chambers junior, 0.21secs adrift as the second fastest qualifier.

Mark Lewis-Francis and Marlon Devonish, Olympic relay gold medal winners in 2004, plus Craig Pickering and Christian Malcolm also advanced to the semi-finals.

Welsh champion Elaine O’Neill won heat 2 of the women’s 100m as the Loughborough 2012 Sports Scholar clocked a time of 11.69secs ahead of British record-holder Montell Douglas (11.86) with graduate Louise Bloor third in 11.92.

World junior bronze medallist Meghan Beesley cruised through in the semi-finals of the 400m hurdles as the 20-year-old Loughborough student clocked 57.63secs to join the equally impressive Perri Shakes-Drayton (57.09) in the final.

Loughborough graduates Nicola Sanders and Lee McConnell clocked times of 52.78secs and 52.41 respectively to secure first place in their heats to reach the final of the 400m. They will be joined by the UK indoor champion Kim Wall and fellow graduate Vicki Barr, both winners of their heats in 53.41secs and 53.54 respectively.

World silver medallist Lisa Dobriskey in her first serious competitive outing over 1500m this season qualified through in her heat with a time of 4:17.22 having held off the strong challenge of World junior champion Steph Twell (4:17.41), Faye Fullerton (4:17.47) and the new NCAA outdoor champion Charlotte Browning (4:17.52), returning from America to compete with the best of the British talent over the metric mile also qualifying through in a highly competitive and closely fought race. Emily Pidgeon ran a lifetime best of 4:20.06 to finish 9th just missing out on qualifying for the final as one of the fastest losers.

Hannah England, bronze medallist last year won the opening heat in 4:19.97, ahead of Loughborough student Stevie Stockton (4:20.37).

Defending champion Jemma Simpson eased through the heats of the women’s 800m taking victory in 2:07.32 with Loughborough-based Charlotte Best runner-up in 2:07.56. World bronze medallist Jenny Meadows was the top qualifier clocking 2:05.31 in the final heat.

In the men’s 800m Michael Rimmer led the way with by winning his heat in 1:49.79. Loughborough’s Oliver Blake and Kieran Flannery progressed to the semi-finals finishing second third in heats 3 and 4 with marks of 1:50.88 and 1:50.88 respectively.

In the men’s open international 10,000m final Uganda’s Stephen Kiprotich won the race with a time of 27:58.03, as James Walsh secured the UK title in 29:04.62 ahead of Anthony Ford (29:11.90).

James Campbell won the men’s javelin title with a second round throw of 74 metres ahead of Brett Byrd (69.88).

Report by Mark Woolley.

Video interviews are available at: www.athleticos.org/

Full Results:
Men
100 h1 (-0.2): 1 James Dasaolu (Croy) 10.39; 2 Rion Pierre (WSEH) 10.57; 3 Aidan Syers (NEB) 10.59; 4 Nigel Thomas (TVH) 10.82; 5 Justin Geohagen (SB) 10.82. h2 (1.2): 1 Leevan Yearwood (VP&TH) 10.40; 2 Josh Swaray (Hill) 10.45; 3 Ryan Scott (NEB) 10.52; 4 Liam Duff (Card) 10.64; 5 Craig Fleming (Belg) 10.76. h3 (0.0): 1 Christian Malcolm (Card) 10.45; 2 Joel Fearon (Bir) 10.52; 3 Nick Smith (SB) 10.53; 4 Robert Graham (Herne H) 10.73. h4 (0.4): 1 Craig Pickering (Mil K) 10.45; 2 Mark Findlay (NEB) 10.46; 3 Elijah Winn (E&H) 10.67; 4 Harry Harris (M'bro, U20) 11.03; 5 Antoe Walters (Bir, U20) 11.06. h5 (-0.1): 1 Marlon Devonish (Cov) 10.41; 2 James Alaka (B&B) 10.48; 3 Ryan James (Bir) 10.63; 4 Gavin Eastman (E&H) 10.78; 5 Junior Ejehu (WG&EL, U20) 10.82. h6 (0.7): 1 Mark Lewis-Francis (Bir) 10.44; 2 Andrew Robertson (Sale) 10.63; 3 Wade Bennett-Jackson (Belg) 10.70; 4 Darren Green (Lut) 10.79; 6 Elijah Skervin (Notts, U20) 11.08. h7 (-0.3): 1 Dwain Chambers (Belg) 10.18; 2 Tremayne Gilling (B&B) 10.55; 3 Andy Matthews (WSEH) 10.66; 4 Leroy Slue (Harrow) 10.79; 5 William De Torvy (TVH) 10.82.
800 h1: 1 Michael Rimmer (Liv PS) 1:49.79; 2 Mukhtar Mohammed (Sheff RC) 1:49.89; 3 Guy Learmonth (Lass, U20) 1:50.36; 4 Steven Fennell (Ton) 1:50.73; 5 Sam Petty (N Dev, U20) 1:50.75; 6 Warren Frey (Bir) 1:51.02; 7 Michael Wilsmore (B&W) 1:51.43. h2: 1 Darren St. Clair (E&H) 1:51.74; 2 Damien Moss (R&N) 1:51.81; 3 Ben Wallis (G&G) 1:51.88; 4 Gareth Wiltshire (Card) 1:51.88; 5 Steve Evison (Sheff) 1:51.89; 6 Chris Smith (Wirr) 1:52.24. h3: 1 James Shane (NEB) 1:50.32; 2 Richard Hill (Notts) 1:50.51; 3 Ben Wiffen (Ton) 1:50.60; 4 Kieran Flannery (Gate) 1:50.88; 5 Graeme Oudney (Belg) 1:51.09; 6 Danny Barkes (Mans) 1:51.17. h4: 1 Gareth Warburton (Card) 1:51.58; 2 Oliver Blake (Osw) 1:51.66; 3 Ed Aston (C&C) 1:51.73; 4 Sam Ellis (Barns) 1:51.86; 8 James Senior (Norw, U20) 1:54.74. h5: 1 Joe Thomas (Card) 1:51.37; 2 Paul Bradshaw (B'burn) 1:51.51; 3 Joe Durrant (Camb H) 1:51.58; 4 Tom Marley (B&W) 1:51.67; 5 Ben Scarlett (Swin) 1:51.82; 6 Ian Munro (Glas C) 1:51.85; 7 Christopher Harvey (C&S) 1:52.19.
10,000: 1 Stephen Kiprotich (Uganda) 27:58.03; 2 Marius Ionescu (Alt) 28:54.83; 3 Jussi Utriainen (FIN) 28:56.22; 4 Shawn Forrest (AUS) 28:58.21; 5 Sean Connolly (IRL) 29:02.50; 6 James Walsh (Leeds C) 29:04.62; 7 Tibor Vegh (Hungary) 29:06.91; 8 Joilson Da Silva (BRA) 29:07.53; 9 Antony Ford (Sale) 29:11.90; 10 Tsegezab Woldemichael (Shett) 29:25.90; 11 Oskar Kack (SWE) 29:40.61; 12 Alex Hains (Card) 29:46.10; 13 Kevin Skinner (NEB) 29:50.44; 14 Tuomas Jokinen (FIN) 29:50.61; 15 Ian Hudspith (Morp, V35) 29:55.56; 16 Mathew Ashton (AFD) 29:58.90; 17 Tewoldeberhan Mengisteab (Shett) 29:58.98; 18 Jonathan Wills (B&W) 30:00.01; 19 Amanuel Hagos (Shett) 30:03.45; 20 Marcin Fudalej (Mil K) 30:05.50; 21 Russell Dessaix-Chin (Belg) 30:13.93; 22 Ben Fish (B'burn) 30:28.16; 23 Matt Janes (Bed C) 30:48.06; 24 Hywel Care (WG&EL) 30:50.29.
JT: 1 James Campbell (Chelt) 74.00; 2 Brett Byrd (Stoke) 69.88; 3 Mervyn Luckwell (Mil K) 68.57; 4 Daniel Pembroke (WSEH, U20) 67.66; 5 Lee Doran (Sheff) 67.47; 6 Neil McLellan (SNH) 67.40; 7 Stuart Harvey (WG&EL) 65.40; 8 Roald Bradstock (D&T, V45) 65.17; 9 Matthew Hunt (Sale) 64.76; 10 Bonne Buwembo (E&H) 64.15; 11 Ian Burns (Gate) 60.59.
Women
100 h1 (-0.1): 1 Abi Oyepitan (SB) 11.62; 2 Margaret Adeoye (E&H) 11.78; 3 Anike Shand-Whittingham (B&B) 11.92; 4 Rachel Telfer-James (E&H) 12.09; 5 Shayone Simao (S Lon) 12.11; 6 Rachel Giwa (Ilf) 12.22. h2 (-1.0): 1 Elaine O'Neill (WG&EL) 11.69; 2 Montell Douglas (B&B) 11.86; 3 Louise Bloor (Traff) 11.92; 4 Rebekah Wilson (Sale, U20) 12.02; 5 Marilyn Nwawulor (Harrow, U20) 12.02; 6 Kylie Russell (Bath) 12.07. h3 (-0.4): 1 Joice Maduaka (WG&EL, V35) 11.47; 2 Ashlee Nelson (Stoke, U20) 11.58; 3 Bernice Wilson (Bir) 11.78; 4 Annabelle Lewis (KuH) 11.90; 5 Amy Godsell (B&B) 12.12; 6 Michelle Webster (Bed C) 12.18; 7 Emma Bailey (R&N) 12.29. h4 (0.6): 1 Laura Turner (Harrow) 11.48; 2 Katherine Endacott (Ply) 11.71; 3 Tunrayo Nubi (E&H) 11.74; 4 Natalie Bartley (S Lon) 12.02; 5 Abbi Tyson (Bir) 12.08.
400 h1: 1 Lee McConnell (SB) 52.41; 2 Kelly Massey (Sale) 53.39; 3 Laura Maddox (Bath) 53.87; 4 Melinda Cooksey (Bir) 54.98; 5 Denise Gayle (E&H) 55.48; 6 Emma Williams (Cov) 55.65; 7 Katie Flower (Scun) 55.71. h2: 1 Victoria Barr (R&N) 53.54; 2 Joanne Ryan (Loughton) 54.68; 3 Laura Wake (Herts P, U20) 55.03; 4 Lesley Owusu (WSEH) 55.56; 5 Savannah Echel-Thomson (Phoe, U20) 56.26; 6 Victoria Garrad (Traff) 56.66. h3: 1 Kim Wall (Bas) 53.41; 2 Shelayna Oskan (WSEH) 54.62; 3 Faye Harding (Sale) 55.05; 4 Sarah Adams (Leic C) 55.26; 5 Frederica Foster (S Lon, U20) 55.61; 6 Claire Burgoyne (Shrews) 56.74. h4: 1 Nicola Sanders (WSEH) 52.78; 2 Nadine Okyere (Bir) 53.45; 3 Gemma Nicol (SB) 53.60; 4 Emma Pullen (Shrews) 54.65; 5 Laura Langowski (Cov) 54.67; 6 Harriet Pryke (Manx) 55.62.
800 h1: 1 Jemma Simpson (N&P) 2:07.32; 2 Charlotte Best (Craw) 2:07.56; 3 Phillippa Aukett (SB) 2:07.87; 4 Carolyn Plateau (Rad) 2:07.95; 5 Rachael Thompson (Liv H) 2:08.45; 6 Dawn Hunt (WSEH) 2:08.72; 7 Clementine Adams (AFD) 2:09.37; 8 Stephanie Roe (Prest) 2:09.90. h2: 1 Vicky Griffiths (Liv H) 2:07.49; 2 Karrie Blake (Ports) 2:07.64; 3 Claire Gibson (Kilb) 2:07.69; 4 Suzanne Hasler (Puerto de Alicante (Spain)) 2:07.82; 5 Claire Tarplee (SSH) 2:08.14; 6 Ejiro Okoro (Bir) 2:08.41; 7 Leigh Lennon (NEB, U20) 2:10.19; 8 Alexandra Bell (P&B, U20) 2:12.26. h3: 1 Emma Jackson (Stoke) 2:07.56; 2 Marilyn Okoro (SB) 2:07.88; 3 Danielle Christmas (Craw) 2:08.10; 4 Tara Bird (WG&EL) 2:08.12; 5 Adelle Tracey (G&G, U20) 2:08.70; 6 Rebecca Sweeney (Sale) 2:09.45; 7 Nicola Maddick (KuH) 2:09.98. h4: 1 Jenny Meadows (Wig D) 2:05.31; 2 Alison Leonard (B'burn) 2:05.60; 3 Sarah Kelly (Dund H, U20) 2:05.77; 4 Karen Harewood (Corby) 2:06.05; 5 Donna Jones (Sale) 2:06.22; 6 Jade MacLaren (VPCG) 2:08.42; 7 Jenny Tan (Fife, U20) 2:09.99.
1500 h1: 1 Hannah England (Oxf C) 4:19.97; 2 Stevie Stockton (Vale R) 4:20.37; 3 Morag MacLarty (Centr) 4:20.67; 4 Laura Weightman (Morp, U20) 4:20.87; 5 Amanda Jones (Swan) 4:21.55; 6 Abbey McGhee (VPCG) 4:22.02; 7 Jordan Kinney (RSC) 4:22.74; 8 Katrina Wootton (Bed C) 4:25.65; 9 Laura Dunn (Edin) 4:26.29; 10 Beth Potter (VPCG, U20) 4:27.95; 11 Kate Holt (Stoke, U20) 4:30.41. h2: 1 Lisa Dobriskey (Ashf) 4:17.22; 2 Stephanie Twell (AFD) 4:17.41; 3 Faye Fullerton (Hav M) 4:17.47; 4 Charlotte Browning (AFD) 4:17.52; 5 Celia Taylor (Cov) 4:17.61; 6 Laura Kirk (Sky) 4:17.71; 7 Stacey Smith (Gate) 4:18.01; 8 Josephine Moultrie (VPCG) 4:18.82; 9 Emily Pidgeon (Stroud) 4:20.06; 10 Laura Parker (Wells) 4:21.45; 11 Jacqueline Fairchild (Traff) 4:23.81; 12 Elaine Murty (B&B) 4:24.13.
400HW h1: 1 Meghan Beesley (Bir) 57.63; 2 Caryl Granville (Carm) 58.36; 3 Hannah Douglas (Mil K) 58.49; 4 Emily Parker (E&E) 58.97; 5 Jade Surman (Bir) 59.91; 6 Emily Moss (P'boro) 1:03.82; 7 Holly Belch (Sale) 1:04.82. h2: 1 Perri Shakes-Drayton (VP&TH) 57.09; 2 Ese Okoro (Bir) 59.52; 3 Nisha Desai (Traff) 59.71; 4 Emma Peters (Card) 59.82; 5 Lauren Bouchard (Chelm, U20) 1:00.99; 6 Katie Sockett (Sheff) 1:01.37; 7 Samantha Coleby (Dur) 1:01.57.
TJ: 1 Laura Samuel (Leic C, U20) 13.52/0.8; 2 Nadia Williams (SB) 13.49/0.0; 3 Zainab Ceesay (WG&EL) 12.74/1.7; 4 Sineade Gutzmore (Bir) 12.72/0.9; 5 Claire Linskill (N Dev) 12.69/1.0; 6 Kelly Hilton (Wig D) 12.51/0.4; 7 Melissa Carr (Shild) 12.47/0.6; 8 Sara Barry (Card) 12.35/0.3; 9 Nony Mordi (SB) 12.31/0.0; 10 Yasmine Regis (WSEH) 11.61/-1.0; 11 Denae Matthew (Bir) 11.35/0.1.

2010 SPAR European Team Championships

Fana Stadium, Bergen, Norway

Sunday 20th June 2010 – Day 2

GREAT Britain improved on their third place twelve months ago in Leiria to finish runners-up to Russia at the SPAR European Team Championships as sprint hurdler Andy Turner secure the only individual victory for GB on the second day of competition in Bergen, Norway.

Under a bright blue Norwegian sky on the track of the Fana Stadium European bronze medallist Andy Turner, ranked second in Europe this season and despite struggling with an Achilles injury retained his 110m hurdles title with a fine performance crossing the line in a time of 13.49secs to defeat Poland’s 2006 world junior champion Artur Noga and Jackson Quinonez of Spain.

Turner commented afterwards: “I'm happy to get the 12 points for my country. The time is not bad, but that's irrelevant, I was running for the points.”

Turner’s win added to victories for Dwain Chambers (100m), Mo Farah (5,000m), Colin McCourt (1500m) and Martyn Rooney (400m) the previous day to secure Great Britain the silver medals on the final podium.

Russia underlined their position of pre-championship favourites to improve on their second place from last year winning the overall title with a total of 379.5 points well ahead of Great Britain's 317. Defending champions Germany secured third place with France and Ukraine completing the top five as Greece, hosts Norway and Finland were relegated.

Earlier in the day world champion Phillips Idowu has to settle for second in the men’s triple jump competition with a best of 17.12m as the favourite and global-leader in 2010, France’s Teddy Tamgho, faded to third place leaving the Ukraine’s Viktor Kuznyetsov to take the title with a personal best of 17.26.

In the middle-distance events Hannah England and Jo Pavey both finished second in the 1500m and 5,000m respectively.

England clocked 4:05.70 to finish runner-up to the Ukraine's Anna Mishchenko who set a championship record of 4:05.32, whilst, Pavey, in her first competitive track race since the Beijing Olympics following the birth of her son was outpaced by Germany's Sabrina Mockenhaupt 14:17.41 to 15:17.87. European junior champion Karolina Bjerkeli Grovdal of Norway delighted the home crowd to claim third in a lifetime best of 15:25.40.

Michael Rimmer wearing his trademark T-shirt impressed in the men’s 800m securing a second place finish in a time of 1:45.62 as Russia’s vastly experienced Yuriy Borzakovskiy showed his class to set a championship record of 1:45.41.

Loughborough-based Leon Baptiste the number one ranked athlete in Europe over 200m produced a disappointing performance that belied his recent good form finishing fifth in 20.84secs outside of his 20.53 season's best as Martial Mbandjock of France equalled the championship record of 20.55 to take victory.

Emily Freeman over women’s 200m finished in fifth with a season’s best of 23:34 in the race won by the Ukraine’s Yelizaveta Bryzhina with a championship record and European-leading time of 22.71.

In the men’s 3,000m Great Britain were forced to make a late change as former European Under-23 champion Chris Thompson withdrew due to a stomach upset to be replaced by the travelling reserve James Wilkinson.

Wilkinson finished a distant 11th in 8:28.33 as Spain’s Jesus Espana, the championship record-holder, successfully defended his title prevailing in 8:19.39.

In the men’s 3,000m steeplechase Luke Gunn finished 5th in 8:38.65 as Poland’s Tomasz Symkowiak won in 8:31.53.

Steph Pywell on her senior Team GB debut in the women’s high jump secured four points finishing in 9th place with a height of 1.80m as the 2007 world silver medallist Antonietta Di Martino of Italy prevailed with a leap of 2.00 to equal her season’s best.

Angelita Broadbelt Blake finished fourth in her heat of the women’s 110m hurdles race for Team GB in a time of 13:33secs which gave her eighth place overall as Russia’s Tatyana Dektyareva set a new championship record and European-lead time in the ‘A’ final to claim victory in 12.68.

Jade Johnson finished the long jump competition in seventh place with her best effort of 6.26m to claim six points behind the French winner Eloyse Leseuer who prevailed with a personal best of 6.78.

Sarah Holt, the 2009 European Under-23 bronze medallist in the women’s hammer produced a best of 55.66m to gain one-point, whilst, in the shot Rebecca Peake threw a best of 15.67m as Russia’s Anna Avdeyeva won with a 19.12 effort.

Brett Morse on his senior Team GB debut finished 11th in the discus with a best of 55.09m, whilst, Mervyn Luckwell finished eighth in the javelin competition with a best of 71.80m as Germany’s Mattias De Zordo achieved a surprise win with 83.80 leaving Norway’s double Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen having to settle for second place with a relatively modest 82.98m.

Steve Lewis struggled in the men’s pole vault having passed up to the 5.05m height he then failed at 5.25m to go out of the competition.

In the final events of the competition with individual winner Martyn Rooney rested the men’s 4x400m squad of Conrad Williams, Richard Buck, Chris Clarke and Michael Bingham finished in second place with a time of 3:03.50 as Russia won with a European-leading mark of 3:01.72.

The women’s 4x400m relay quartet of Kim Wall, Nadine Okyere, Nicola Sanders and Perri Shakes-Drayton claimed a third place finish in 3:27.75 to collect nine points as the powerful Russians smashed the championship record and set a world-leading time in the process clocking 3:23.76.

Report by Mark Woolley.

SPAR European Team Championships – Final Standings
1 Russia 379pts
2 Great Britain 317pts
3 Germany 304.5pts
4 France 290pts
5 Ukraine 287pts
6 Poland 284pts
7 Italy 283.5pts
8 Belarus 235pts
9 Spain 218pts
10 Greece 187.5pts
11 Norway 175pts
12 Finland 150pts

Full results are available on the following link: www.sportresult.com/sports/la/framework/eaa2.asp

http://sdc.lboro.ac.uk/shownews.php?news_id=1175&cat_id=16&level=1

2010 SPAR European Team Championships

Fana Stadium, Bergen, Norway

Saturday 19th June 2010 – Day 1

DWAIN Chambers clocked the fastest 100m time in Europe this year with a mark of 9.99secs to combine with victories for David Greene (400m hurdles), Mo Farah (5,000m), Martyn Rooney (400m) and Colin McCourt (1500m) to place Great Britain in second place overall following the first day of competition at the 2010 SPAR European Team Championships in Bergen, Norway.

In the city of Bergen situated on the west coast of Norway, known as the ‘Gateway to the Fiords,’ as we reach the halfway point of the Olympic cycle two-years since Beijing 2008 and 24 months before London 2012 the weekend was set to give an indication of just where Great Britain athletes are in respect of their prospects of medal chances in the capital.

Performance of the opening day for Team GB came from World indoor 60m champion Dwain Chambers who stormed home in 9.99secs taking maximum points in the men’s 100m to defeat France’s Christophe Lemaitre, the fastest man in Europe this season prior to the Bergen race.

Lemaitre has been touted by many in the sport to become the first white athlete to break the ten second barrier, however, on the track of a blustery Fana Stadium it was Chambers who prevailed finishing just 0.02 outside of his lifetime best set in 1999 and now places him as firm favourite for gold at next month’s European Championships in Barcelona.

Chambers commented afterwards: “What a race! I knew it would be tough and that I had to do my best. The most important thing is that I got the 12 points for my team. Christophe Lemaitre is very talented and we will see this battle many times in the future.”

He continued: “Today I could beat him, he is very strong over the last 20 metres! I am very happy that I broke the 10 second barrier!”

Loughborough-based Martyn Rooney, the fastest man in Europe over 400m this season with a time of 44.99 set the previous weekend in Geneva, also secured maximum points for Great Britain by taking victory in a time of 45.67secs despite the wind swirling around the stadium finishing ahead of France's Leslie Djhone, second in 45.72.

A determined Rooney commented: “I came here to win and I don't care about the time. I came here to do a job. The wind was not good for 400m but I'm happy about the race.”

At the start of the track programme David Greene got Great Britain off to a flying start on their European campaign by taking victory in the 400m hurdles to collect the maximum 12 points.

Greene, a member of the British 4x400m relay squad that won silver at the Berlin World Championships last year, eased home in a time of 49.53secs ahead of Greece’s Periklis Iakovakis, who crossed the line in 50.13.

“It was windy, windy, windy! Very hard, but it was nice to get the victory for the team!”

European 3,000m indoor champion Mo Farah continued his run of superb recent form with a dominant victory over 5,000m as the 27-year-old cruised home ahead of the field in a time of 13mins 46.93secs, finishing clear of the field to secure the 12 points for Great Britain as Alemayehu Bezabeh of Spain finished second.

Colin McCourt also claimed a fine victory in the middle-distances by winning the 1500m by crossing the line in a time of 3:46.70, holding off the challenge of Christian Obrist of Italy and Germany’s Carsten Schlangen, who finished second and third respectively.

McCourt reflected: “It was very windy, I had a good place so I just stayed there. It was too windy for a fast run, but I'm very happy for the win.”

Scotland's new national record-holder Eilidh Child produced a fine performance to finish second in the women’s 400m hurdles clocking a time of 56.48secs in the race won by.

Child commented afterwards: “I feel good about the race. It was very windy, and I was very tired coming in, but I’m very happy about second, and the points for my country.”

Emma Jackson, a late addition to the GB squad as a replacement for world bronze medallist Jenny Meadows, finished in a solid fourth place in the women's 800m as victory went to Nataliya Lupu of the Ukraine in 2:02.74.

Jackson clocked a time of 2:04.53, just edging out Fanjanteino Felix of France to secure Great Britain12 points.

California-based Barbara Parker transferred her fine recent form to Europe finishing fourth in the 3,000m steeplechase to earn nine points for Great Britain recording a time of 9:44.81 in the race won by Russia’s World silver medallist Yuliya Zarudneva in a championship record of 9:23.00.

UK indoor champion Kim Wall claimed victory in the 400m ‘B’ final in a time of 53.48secs to finish sixth overall.

In the women’s 100m Laura Turner also claimed first place in the ‘B’ final coming home in 11.31secs equal third fastest time in the field to earn 9.5 points.

Turner commented: “I am very happy with this, I just executed my race and of course I am delighted to do this with a seasonal best.”

In the women's pole vault, there was disappointment for British record-holder Kate Dennison, who cleared 4.20m but failed all three attempts at 4.40m - well down on her personal best of 4.60m. Russia’s Svetlana Feofanova, the 2002 European gold medallist emerged as the comfortable winner despite clearing the same height of 4.65m as Germany’s Silke Spiegelburg.

In the women's discus Nadine Muller of Germany claimed victory with a best effort of 63.53m as Great Britain's Philippa Roles finished seventh with a best of 53.33m.

Compatriot Nadia Williams finished 10th in the women's triple jump with a leap of 13.38m as Olha Saladuha of the Ukraine won the competition with a jump of 14.39m.

In the men’s hammer final Great Britain’s Alex Smith produced a best throw of 66.72m to finish 11th as Belarus’ Pavel Kryvitski secured victory with an effort of 77.79m.

UK record-holder Chris Tomlinson was third in the long jump with a mark of 7.98m as he continues his recovery from a recent ankle injury. Russia’s Pavel Shalon won with a championship record of 8.26m.

Tom Parsons was second in the high-jump with a best of 2.25m as Russia’s Aleksandr Shustov won with 2.28m, whilst, UK record-holder Goldie Sayers recorded a throw of 59.25m in the javelin to also finish runner-up behind German Christina Obergfoll (59.88).

Day one of competition finished with the 4x100m sprint relays with Team GB’s women (Joice Maduaka, Emily freeman, Laura Turner, Katherine Endacott) collecting nine points after finishing fourth in a time of 43.77secs as the British men (Jeffrey Balogun, Craig Pickering, Marlon Devonish, Tyrone Edgar) finishing second behind Italy with a mark of 39.00 to 38.83.

Report by Mark Woolley.

SPAR European Team Championships - Standings after Day 1
1 Russia 209pts
2 Great Britain 188pts
3 Italy 160.5pts
4 Ukraine 153pts
5 France 150.5pts
6 Poland 143pts
7 Germany 141.5pts
8 Belarus 109.5pts
9 Spain 105pts
10 Greece 100pts
11 Norway 94pts
12 Finland 79pts

Full results are available on the following link: www.sportresult.com/sports/la/framework/eaa2.asp

http://sdc.lboro.ac.uk/shownews.php?news_id=1175&cat_id=16&level=1

Saturday 19th June 2010

DOUBLE European indoor gold Medallist David Gillick finished second in the 400m equaling his seasons best time of 45.32secs and secured valuable high placing points for the Irish team competing at the Division 1 SPAR European Team Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

The race was won by Belgium’s Jonathan Borlee in 44.99 as Ireland sit in eighth position overnight on a total of 130.5 points, five points behind the seventh-placed Dutch. The Czech Republic are clear in first (201.5 points) with Portugal (165) and Sweden (161) completing the top three.

http://sdc.lboro.ac.uk/shownews.php?news_id=1175&cat_id=16&level=1

Monday 15th June 2010

GREAT Britain's Perri Shakes-Drayton was close to her best of 54.91secs, which the 2009 European Athletics Under 23 Championships 400m hurdles gold medallist ran on Saturday at the European Athletics Premium Meeting in Torino, when she finished second at the Josef Odlozil Memorial in Prague with a time of 55.28 in the race won by Zuzana Hejnova of the Czech Republic (54.68).

World semi-finalist Jemma Simpson, having ran under the two-minute barrier (1:59.58) at the Rome Diamond League meeting last week, finished second in the 800m with a time of 2:00.31 as Algeria’s Zahra Bouras set a lifetime best to secure victory in 1:59.54.

Simpson has recently returned to the UK from her American training base in Eugene, Oregon, and is currently living in Loughborough with her partner, British international Chris Thompson, where they have the added benefit of an altitude simulation tent provided by UK Athletics in their house. This consists of a machine that pumps nitrogen into the tent to simulate the altitude you want to be at.

Although the Charnwood Forest area lacks in altitude the duo will feel at home training over the picturesque countryside of the Beacon and Bradgate Park area as they prepare ahead of the UK trials later this month and the Barcelona European Championships that take place in August.

World finalist William Sharman set a season’s best of 13.45secs to take fifth place in the 110m hurdles as Petr Svoboda set a national record of 13.27 to defeat the USA’s Ryan Wilson by one-hundredth of a second in front of his home crowd.

In the men’s 1500m James Brewer finished 13th in 3:46.42 in the race won by Kenyan Collins Cheboi in 3:37.91.

Highlight of the meeting was produced by Sunette Viljoen of South Africa who smashed the African record in the women's javelin by throwing 66.38 metres to defeat world record-holder and Olympic champion Barbora Spotakova.

Report by Mark Woolley.

Full results are available on the following link: www.memorial-odlozil.cz/results/vys_12176.html

Sunday 13th June 2010

THE Midlands Senior/U20 territorial track and field championships were held at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium on Sunday 13th June - here’s how the day unfolded for the Leicestershire & Rutland and Loughborough students athletes in action.

In the men’s senior 400m final Paul Judson (LSAC) won gold in a time of 48.58secs with Daniel Cash (LSAC) setting a lifetime best of 48.90 to collect the bronze.

Tim Dalton led home fellow Loughborough University student Tom Gayle in the men’s senior 1500m final 3:54.62 to 3:55.91. The U20 men’s 800m final was won by Toby Griffiths (LSAC) in 1:57.11 ahead of Paddy Radley (OWLS) 1:59.43.

In the men’s 110m hurdles final former English schools champion Julian Adeniran (Shaftesbury Barnet) won joint gold with Edirin Okoro (Birchfield) with both athletes given the same time of 14.27secs.

Callem Forde (Charnwood) set a new personal best of 53.83secs to take bronze in the 400m hurdles as Richard Adiyia (Charnwood) also gained a podium place in the U20 race, third in 60.71.

Ben Morris (Leics Cor) finished runner-up in the U20 men’s 200m sprint final to take the silver medal clocking 22.35secs.

The 2002 Commonwealth champion Nathan Morgan returned to form to win the senior men's long jump title with a leap of 7.59m. Luke Prior (OWLS) set a season’s best of 6.46 to claim fifth place.

Loughborough sports science graduate Nathan Douglas, the 2007 European indoor silver medallist, prevailed in the senior triple jump final winning with a leap of 15.85m ahead of Lawrence Harvey (LSAC) 14.66.

There was a superb performance by Briony Bendle (Charnwood) in the U20 women’s 800m final, having won gold over the distance the previous day at the Leicestershire & Rutland Schools Championships the 17-year-old coached by Roger Francks set a lifetime best to win the Midlands title in 2:14.71.

Kylie Russell (LSAC) won the senior women’s 100m title in 12.13secs as Laura Samuel (LSAC) claimed bronze in the U20 race in 12.60.

Emma Williams (LSAC) set a lifetime best of 25.01secs to take bronze in the women’s senior 200m. Laura Haslam (Charnwood) gained silver in the U20 race clocking 25.74.

Alison Lavender (LSAC) won the senior 5,000m women’s gold in a time of 17:54.25, whilst, Gemma Werrett (LSAC) won 100m hurdles bronze in 14.08secs.

Laura Samuel (LSAC) comfortably won the women’s U20 triple jump title with a mark of 12.48m and then collected a further gold in the long jump final with 5.66m, whilst, Denae Matthew (Birchfield) won the senior title with a season’s best of 12.33.

Eden Francis (Birchfield) secured the shot and discus titles finishing ahead of Rebecca Peake (LSAC) in the shot 15.28m to 14.98m and winning the discus with a best of 50.18.

Sarah Holt (LSAC) secured bronze in the senior women’s hammer final with a throw of 58.32m as Amber Burdett (Charnwood) won silver in the senior javelin with a best of 40.93.

Complied by Mark Woolley.

Full results are available on the following link: www.thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=36123

2010 IAAF Diamond League – adidas Grand Prix

Icahn Stadium, Randall Island, New York City, USA

Saturday 12th June 2010

WORLD heptathlon and pentathlon champion Jessica Ennis with two fine individual victories over American rival Hyleas Fountain in their three-event challenge at the adidas Grand Prix IAAF Diamond League meeting in New York looks to be in good shape ahead of next months Barcelona European Championships.

At the Icahn Stadium with the back drop of Manhattan Island in the distance making for a spectacular vista on a warm steamy New York evening, Great Britain’s Jessica Ennis on her US-debut began with a positive performance to win the opening shot competition with a best of 13.61m with Hyleas Fountain – who Ennis defeated in Gotzis last month - second with a best of 13.47.

In the long jump the American gained revenge wining the competition with a leap of 6.65m compared to Ennis's 6.51.

However, Ennis raced to victory in the 100m hurdles clocking a time of 12.85secs - 0.08 seconds clear of Fountain. Overall the American edged victory by a margin of 15 points in the three-way competition.

World champion Phillips Idowu could only finish third in the men’s triple jump competition as Frenchman Teddy Tamgho produced a superb display.

Tamgho, the world indoor champion produced the third-longest jump of all-time with a leap of 17.98m compared with Idowu’s 17.31. Idowu began well and led after the second round with a jump of 17.22, however, Tamgho took the lead in the third round with 17.61 and extended the advantage with his final two efforts.

Idowu finished runner-up to Sweden's former Olympic champion Christian Olsson, who moved into second with 17.62 in the final round.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Veronica Campbell-Brown delighted the large Jamaican contingent in the crowd holding off American rival Allyson Felix to win the 200 metres in a world-leading time of 21.98secs. Great Britain's Emily Freeman was sixth in 23.37.

American Lolo Jones posted the best time in the world this year in winning the women's 100 hurdles in 12.55secs.

In the men's 400m hurdles, world champion Kerron Clement set a meeting record of 47.86 to edge out compatriot Bershawn Jackson (47.94). World-leader for 2010, Javier Culson of Puerto Rico, was third in 48.47.

In the absence of Diamond League leader Asafa Powell, who won in Rome on Thursday night and the injured Tyson Gay the men's 100m was won by Richard Thompson of Trinidad in a wind-assisted 9.89secs with Jamaica's Johan Blake second in 9.91 just ahead of Daniel Bailey of Antigua (9.92).

United Kingdom indoor champion Samson Oni finished third in the high jump competition when he equalled his season's best of 2.27m to finish behind Sweden's Linus Thornblad and American Jesse Williams, who both cleared 2.30.

Kenya’s Olympic 1500m champion Nancy Langat claimed her second Diamond League victory of the season with a world-leading victory of 4:01.60 ahead of former Olympic 5,000m champion Meseret Defar who set a lifetime best of 4:02.00.

World record-holder Tirunesh Dibaba led an Ethiopian sweep in the women’s 5,000m race after Amy Yoder-Begley, the 2009 US champion over 10,000m made a brave attempt to take charge of the lead from Dibaba during the race, but faded in the final laps. Dibaba made her 15:11.34 victory look easy. World indoor champion Sentayehu Ejigu finished second in 15:12.99.

In the field competitions, two-time Olympic gold medalist Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway set a meet record in the javelin with a mark of 87.02m.

The in form Renaud Lavillenie of France also set a meeting record of 5.85m to defeat Olympic champion Steve Hooker of Australia in the pole vault.

Report by Mark Woolley.

Full results are available on the following link:
www.diamondleague-newyork.com/Live-StartlistsResults/Overview/

Saturday 12th June 2010

TODAY in the sporting fixtures it’s very much a case of England v USA and not just in Rustenburg, South Africa at the FIFA World Cup, but also on the track and infield of the Icahn Stadium on Randall Island situated in the tri-state area of New York City as world heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis goes head-to-head with America’s Olympic silver medallist Hyleas Fountain in a special three-event challenge at the IAAF Diamond League adidas Grand Prix meeting.

On her US debt Ennis will compete in the 100m hurdles, the long jump and the shot put against one of her major rivals in the sport.

In the triple jump, Great Britain’s world champion Phillips Idowu goes head-to-head with world indoor record-holder Teddy Tamgho of France and former world and Olympic champion Christian Olsson from Sweden.

In the men's high jump, Olympic finalist Tom Parsons and UK indoor champion Samson Oni face strong opposition including Osaka world champion Donald Thomas of the Bahamas and the USA's world-leader Dusty Jonas.

UK champion Emily Freeman in the women's 200m faces the tough task of trying to keep in the slipstream of three-time world champion, American golden girl Allyson Felix, and the two-time Olympic champion and world indoor 60m champion Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica.

There will, however, be big disappointment for home fans in New York as Tyson Gay is nursing a tight hamstring and has pulled out of the meeting. The three-time world champion said he felt discomfort after setting the 200m record for a straight track in Manchester last month. Tests showed a disk out of alignment in his spine, and he believes that led to the problem.

[h]Live coverage is available on BBC Interactive from 9.30pm via the Red Button.

2010 IAAF Diamond League – Golden Gala

Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Thursday 10th June 2010

ASAFA Powell produced another superb performance as he improved his world leading 100 metres time for the year at the fourth-leg of the IAAF Diamond League series in Rome.

On the track of the Stadio Olimpico the Jamaican clocked 9.82 seconds at the 30th anniversary staging of the Golden Gala meeting, improving his previous world-leading mark of 9.83secs set last month in Ostrava.

Powell, unbeaten in 2010, finishing time was outside of the Stadio Olimpico record of 9.77 seconds - set by former world champion, American Tyson Gay in the same event last year.

"I got a very good time despite a very bad reaction, but I had a very good second part of the race, this year I changed a lot of things in my preparation, I've worked better, I've lost weight but I've gained power," Powell commented afterwards.

Powell finished clear of the French duo of Christophe Lemaitre and Martial Mbandjock who both clocked 10.09 seconds on the night that they had hoped to become the first white athletes in history to go under the ten-second barrier.

Mark Lewis-Francis not selected for the British squad for next weekend's European Team Championships in Bergen, finished eighth in 10.30secs.

Jenny Meadows produced the best British performance of the night in Rome when she finished third in a stellar women's 800m race won by the highly talented Moroccan Halima Hachlaf.

The 21-year-old produced a superb sprint finish to go under two minutes for the first time in her career when winning in a world leading time of 1:58.40 ahead of the World Championships silver and bronze medallists Janeth Jepkosgei and Meadows, who finished with season's bests of 1:58.85 and 1:58.89.

UK champion Jemma Simpson in only her second outing over the distance this summer finished in a creditable fifth place with a time of 1:59.58 clocking under the two-minute barrier and inside the European ‘A’ qualifying standard.

Jeremy Wariner, the former World and Olympic 400m champion set a fine season’s best of 44.73secs to edge out American compatriot Angelo Taylor following a close race. World finalist Michael Bingham finished sixth in 46.04.

Olympic champion Dayron Robles won the 110m hurdles in a time of 13.14secs ahead of American Dwight Thomas (13.31). European bronze medallist Andy Turner finished fifth in 13.48 as world finalist Will Sharman was ninth in 14.07.

Following his disappointing performance in the Oslo Dream Mile the previous week Andy Baddeley finished 11th with a more positive outing in the men’s 1500m crossing the line in a time of 3:35.50. Kenya's Augustine Kiprono Choge claimed victory with a time of 3:32.21.

Lashinda Demus of the USA set the fastest time of the year in the women's 400m hurdles (52.82), whilst, Kenyan Milcah Milcah Chemos Cheiywa's time of 9:11.71 in the 3,000m steeplechase was the best mark of 2010 in her event. UK record-holder Helen Clitheroe clocked 9:57.28 in her first race of the year over the distance.

Marlon Devonish finished sixth in the 200m with a season’s best of 20.79secs.

UK record-holder Kate Dennison was seventh in the pole vault with an effort of 4.50 metres equaling her season’s best, Brazilian Fabiana Muhre won with 4.70, whilst, Britain’s number one Goldie Sayers was also seventh in the javelin after a throw of 61.23m as world record-holder Barbora Spotakova of the Czech Republic won with 68.66.

In the women's high jump, Croatia's two-time world champion Blanka Vlasic defeated American Chaunte Howard-Lowe. Vlasic's 2.03m was enough to defeat Howard-Lowe, who set an American record of 2.04m earlier in the season.

American Dwight Phillips, the three-time world champion, set the year's best mark in the men's long jump with a winning jump of 8.42m. Chris Tomlinson finished sixth with a best of 7.79.

Report by Mark Woolley.

Full results are available on the following link: www.diamondleague-rome.com/Live-StartlistsResults/Overview/

Thursday 10th June 2010

TONIGHT on the eve of Italy’s title defence at the FIFA Football World Cup the Azzurri can enjoy a night of world-class athletics in the Eternal City with the staging of the 30th anniversary Golden Gala meeting as the colossal 72,000 capacity Stadio Olimpico situated on the banks of the river Tiber in the north-west of the Italian capital welcomes the first of two installments of a fabulous IAAF Diamond League double-header this week as the global tour following the Rome meeting will jet across the Atlantic to New York for the adidas Grand Prix on Saturday.

In Rome the inform Asafa Powell in the absence of his injured Jamaican compatriot Usain Bolt will look to continue his stellar season over 100 metres having won in Oslo last week he could challenge his lifetime best of 9.72secs in the stadium where headwinds tend not to be a problem. Great Britain’s Mark Lewis-Francis will have to improve significantly if he is to challenge for a top three finish.

Race of the night for British fans will be a very high class women’s 800m as world indoor silver medallist Jenny Meadows faces the Osaka world champion Janeth Jepkosgei of Kenya and leading American exponent Maggie Vessey, plus the Ukrainian pair of Tetyana Petlyuk and Yuliya Krevsun.

United Kingdom champion Jemma Simpson having set a personal best of 4:06.39 over 1500m last month in California is also in the starting line-up as she returns from her American training base in Eugene.

European bronze medallist Andy Turner and world finalist Will Sharman face the Olympic champion and world record-holder Dayron Robles of Cuba in the 110m hurdles.

European leader this year Michael Bingham having made his Diamond League debut in the 400m when finishing third in Shanghai, will again face the American duo of Jeremy Wariner and David Neville.

Marlon Devonish competes over 200m as British record-holder Helen Clitheroe will line-up in the women's 3,000m steeplechase.

In the field events UK record-holder Goldie Sayers will be hoping to continue her fine recent form after throwing 63.15m in Bedford to win the CAU Inter-Counties title, moving to sixth in the world rankings, and will face the Czech Republic's world record-holder Barbora Spotakova in Rome.

British record-holder Kate Dennison following her season opener of 4.50m in Bydgoszcz last weekend will go up against the top two pole-vaulters in the world this year; Brazilian record-holder Fabiana Murer and reigning world champion Anna Rogowska of Poland.

In the men’s long jump former UK record-holder Chris Tomlinson will find tough very competition in the shape of America’s reigning world champion Dwight Phillips and the Beijing Olympic champion Irving Saladino of Panama plus the world indoor champion Fabrice Lapierre from Australia.

Preview by Mark Woolley.

Live coverage is available on BBC Interactive from 7.00pm via the Red Button.

Wednesday 9th June 2010

DWAIN Chambers won the men's 100 metres at the Meeting de Montreuil - Alma Athlé tour in Montreuil-sous-Bois, France, on Tuesday evening, whilst, Olympic silver medallist Kerron Stewart of Jamaica was victorious in the women's event.

Chambers ran 10.27 seconds despite a strong headwind of 2.7 metres per second. Lerone Clarke of Jamaica finished second in 10.37 with Tyrone Edgar 7th in 10.54.

The 32-year-old Chambers has struggled to get invites from meeting organisers after testing positive for a banned steroid in 2003 and serving a two-year suspension.

In the women's race, Olympic silver medallist Stewart pulled away in the last 30 metres to clock 11.21.

Dwight Thomas of Jamaica edged David Payne of the United States by one hundredth of a second to take the 110 hurdles in 13.37. Damu Cherry of the United States ran 12.82 to beat compatriot Tiffany Ofili in the 100 hurdles.

World indoor champion Teddy Tamgho of France leaped 17.63 to win the triple jump, with three attempts beyond 17.50.

In the pole vault, Renaud Lavillenie of France cleared 5.70 at his first attempt to beat countryman and world silver medallist Romain Mesnil. United Kingdom champion Steve Lewis finished 8th with a best of 5.40m.

2010 IAAF Diamond League - ExxonMobil Bislett Games

Bislett Stadium, Oslo, Norway

Friday 4th June 2010

ASAFA Powell continued his rich run of form this season as Jamaica's former 100 metres world record-holder clocked a wind-assisted 9.72 seconds securing victory as the newly formed IAAF Diamond League series arrived in Europe at the sparkling ExxonMobil Bislett Games in the beautiful Norwegian capital Oslo.

In front of a packed crowd under a stunning blue Scandinavian evening sky, Powell, the 27-year-old Commonwealth champion, who has been outshone by his younger compatriot Usain Bolt in the past two years, recorded his second success at the inaugural Diamond League series.

Powell was simply in a class of his own claiming his fourth win in the last five years on the Bislett Stadium track with a time just a tenth of a second over the permitted legal level which prevented the Jamaican from equaling his lifetime best he achieved in Lausanne back in 2008.

Powell, who set the fastest legal time this year with 9.83secs the previous week at the IAAF World Challenge in Ostrava, this despite the very wet conditions on the night commented afterwards: "I like the feeling to see 9.72 on the scoreboard."

He continued: "I got a great start, but the last part of the race I was pushing too hard because my legs felt bad.

"The wind's not that much over, so I'm pretty sure that, if it was 2 m/s flat, it would have been the same time."

Powell finished clear of the Trinidad’s Olympic silver medalist Richard Thompson and Churandy Martina of the Dutch Antilles and will now look for a hat-trick of Diamond League victories in Rome next Thursday (10th June).

Britain's Mark Lewis-Francis faded to last place in his heat of the 100m as the 2004 Olympic 4x100m relay gold medalist finished in 10.24secs as Powell eased to victory in 10.05.

The highlight of the evening for British athletes competing in Oslo was produced by World Youth Games silver medallist Jack Meredith who lowered his own UK junior 110m hurdles record for the second time this year clocking a world age group leading time of 13.36secs a mark that places him equal 7th on the world junior all-time list.

Over the 400m hurdles in the Diamond League race World finalist David Greene produced the best senior performance by a Brit finishing third with a season's best of 49.05secs as reigning global champion Kerron Clement and American compatriot Olympic bronze medallist Bershawn Jackson finished first and second with 48.12secs and 48.5 respectively.

David Rushida was the history-maker in the 2010 edition of the Bislett Games famed for it’s distance events as the 21-year-old Kenyan broke one of the meeting's oldest records, smashing the 800m mark of one minute 42.33 seconds set by Great Britain’s Sebastian Coe over three-decades ago in 1979.

Rushida went head-to-head with his main rival Abubaker Kaki of Sudan to secure a tight and thrilling encounter by a margin of just 0.19secs in a world-leading time of 1:42.04.

"I knew the record here was achieved by Sebastian Coe and I wanted to break it," said Rushida. "It was fast from the beginning but I knew after 600m I still needed to push it."

Liverpool Harrier Michael Rimmer clocked his fastest time for over two years finishing fourth behind Poland's Marcin Lewandowski in an impressive 1:44.98.

Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu was a gain below par finishing fourth over 400m in a time of 50.98secs as Amantle Montsho of Botswana claimed a fine victory in a season's best of 50.34.

American Carmelita Jeter was awarded first place in the 200m with a time of 22.54secs after compatriot Lashauntea Moore was disqualified for a lane violation.

After disappointing performances in Deagu and Ostrava, two-time World Indoor champion Lolo Jones returned to form, winning the women's 100m hurdles in a season's best 12.66secs as the American finished ahead of the Canadian duo of Priscilla Lopes-Schliep and Felicien Perdita.

In the ‘Dream Mile’ Olympic 1500m champion Asbel Kiprop won in a world leading 3:49.56 as Great Britain's Andy Baddeley, winner of the race two years ago finished in a distant 12th in 4:00.66.

World indoor 3,000m champion Bernard Lagat set an American record over 5,000m running a strategic race to finish third in 12:54.12 to break the previous American record of 12:56.27 set by Dathan Ritzenhein last year.

Ethiopia’s Imane Merga won the race in 12:53.81 ahead countryman and the 2008 World indoor 3,000m champion Tariku Bekele.

There was a Kenyan sweep in the women’s 3,000m Steeplechase as World bronze medallist Milcah Chemos clocked a world-leading 9:12.66, ahead of compatriots Gladys Kipkemoi (9:12.66) and Lydia Rotich (9:18.03).

In the men’s 1500m promotional event Nick McCormick finished fifth in 3:39.76 with Jermaine Mays 6th in 3:39.84 and Ricky Stevenson 7th in a new lifetime best of 3:40.31.

Over the women's 800m promotional race Celia Taylor finished fifth in 2:02.57 with Marilyn Okoro 6th in 2:02.80.

Reigning world champion Blanka Vlasic of Croatia won the women's high jump over American Chaunte Howard-Lowe as both cleared 2.01m with Vlasic winning on countback.

The stadium's biggest cheers came when home-crowd favourite Andreas Thorkildsen won the javelin. Reigning World indoor and outdoor champion Christian Cantwell of the US won the men's shot put with a best of 21.31m.

Loughborough graduate Steve Lewis failed to make the opening height of 5.40m in the pole vault as did Australia’s Olympic champion Steve Hooker. France's Renaud Lavillenie won with a season's best of 5.80m.

Report by Mark Woolley.

Full results are available on the following link: www.diamondleague-oslo.com/Startliste-resultater/Oversikt/

European 10,000m Cup

Stade Luminy, Marseille, France

Saturday 5th June 2010

MO FARAH stormed to a lifetime best to win the European 10,000m Cup title in Marseille recording the third fastest time ever by a British athlete clocking 27mins 28.86secs on the track of the Stade Luminy.

Having lowered his own British 10k record on the roads (27:44) when successfully defending his title at the Bupa London 10,000 race the previous week only Eamonn Martin (27:23.06) and Jon Brown (27:18.14) now place higher than the Newham & Essex Beagle on the UK all-time list.

In the men’s ‘A’ race Farah, the reigning European 3,000m indoor champion was simply a class apart making good use of pacemaker Kenyan Philemon Limo, the 27-year-old went through halfway point of the 25-lap race with a split of 13:50 having built a huge lead of 70 metres ahead of the field.

Farah continued to extend his lead over the second half of the race, going through 8,000m in 22:05 before clocking a final lap of 58 seconds to come home with a negative split to add the continental 10k title to his European cross-country victory in San Giorgio su Legnano 2006.

France's Abdellatif Meftah was second in 28:12.83 with defending champion Chema Martinez of Spain completing the podium in third (28:13.82).

Farah now has the option of doubling up at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona next month with his main priority being the 5,000m.

In the women’s race, Bupa Great South Run champion Ines Monteiro of Portugal replicated Farah’s performance by also lowering her lifetime best to retain her European 10,000m title completing a ten second victory with a mark of 31:13.58 ahead of German Sabrina Mockenhaupt (31:23.86), as compatriot Sara Moreira claimed bronze with a personal best of 31:26.55.

Portugal also retained their women's team title with the 1996 Olympic Games and 1994 European Athletics Championships 10,000m champion Fernanda Ribeiro at the age of 40 finishing in seventh place in 32:25.61.

With the late withdrawal of Jo Pavey from the race due to injury and illness, Scotland’s Freya Murray, having just returned from altitude training in Boulder, Colorado, led home the British team setting a fine personal best of 32:23.44 to secure sixth place.

Reigning European cross-country champion Hayley Yelling-Higham finished tenth in 32:49.07, as Loughborough graduate Sonia Samuels finished 17th in 33:08.89 on her debut over the distance on the track.

Ireland's Ava Hutchinson finished in 26th place as the Loughborough Alumni clocked 34:10.75.

In the men’s ‘B’ race victory went to Poland’s Arkadiusz Gardzielewski in 28:44.19 as Antony Ford finished first for Team GB in fifth (29:21.90) with compatriots Mike Skinner eighth in 29:44.75, Phil Nicholls 10th in 30:00.90 and Mark Warmby 12th in 30:15.34.

Report by Mark Woolley.

Full results are available on the following link: http://bases.athle.com/asp.net/liste.aspx?frmbase=resultats&frmmode=1&frmespace=0&frmcompetition=043976

Sunday 6th June 2010

UNITED Kingdom pole vault record-holder Kate Dennison finished runner-up to World champion and home athlete Anna Rogowska at the European Athletics Festival meeting in Bydgoszcz, Poland on Sunday, whilst, on the track of the Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak Stadium GB’s top 400m hurdlers shone bright as Eilidh Child (55.17) lowered the 11-year old Scottish national record and Cardiff’s David Greene set a season’s best (48.96), this just two-days after finishing third at the Oslo IAAF Diamond League meeting to world champion Kerron Clement.

On her outdoor season debut Loughborough-based Kate Dennison finished runner-up in the women’s pole vault competition on countback ahead of Russia’s Golubchikova with a best of 4.50 metres as global champion Anna Rogowska delighted the home crowd taking victory with a height of 4.71m which places her second on the world list for 2010 behind Brazil’s Fabiana Murer. Birchfield Harrier Henrietta Paxton finished 5th with a best of 4.20m.

Eilidh Child produced the performance of the meeting for British athletes in action in Bydgoszcz, as the 23-year-old Pitreavie athlete broke Sinead Didgeon’s 11-year old Scottish record of 55.24secs in the 400m hurdles final clocking a time of 55.17 to impressively win the race with a superb late kick finish ahead of Romania’s former European U23 champion Angela Morosanu (55.25) and the 2007 World bronze medallist Anna Jesien of Poland (55.26). This places Child fourth on the UK all-time list.

In the men’s 400m hurdles World finalist David Greene having finished third on Friday night to America’s global champion Kerron Clement at the Oslo Diamond League meeting with a season's best of 49.05secs improved on that mark securing second place in a time of 48.96 behind Commonwealth champion LJ Van Zyl of South Africa (48.87), who was fifth in the Oslo race. Fellow Welshman Rhys Williams was fourth in 49.79.

World finalist William Sharman finished fifth in the final of the 110m hurdles with a mark of 13.58secs into a headwind (-0.7m) as American Ty Akins prevailed in 13.47. World champion Ryan Brathwaite’s disappointing season continued as the Barbados athlete could only finish joint 6th in 13.74.

Loughborough College student and former world youth champion Chris Clarke finished fourth in the 400m in a season’s best of 46.31secs one place ahead of Andrew Steele (46.39). Kris Robertson finished sixth in 46.79.

Cydonie Mothersille from the Cayman Islands held off a late finish from Jamaica’s Rosemarie Whyte to win the women’s 200m in 22.84secs. Whyte was second in 22.87, with Yuliya Chermoshanskaya of Russia third in 22.93. Britain's Joice Maduaka finished 7th in 23.44, whilst, over 800m Claire Gibson clocked 2:05.09 to take 10th place.

Highlight of the meeting came from Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland who broke the World record in the hammer with a 78.30m effort breaking the 77.96m previous record set by Wlodarczyk when she won the World title last year in Berlin.

Report by Mark Woolley.

Monday 7th June 2010

BARBARA Parker clocked the fastest time of the year by a British athlete of 9mins 38.23secs to win the 3,000m steeplechase at the Jim Bush Southern Cal USATF Championships in San Antonio on Sunday as the America-based athlete chases a place in the GB Team for the Barcelona European Championships next month.

The 27-year-old Beijing Olympian recorded her fastest ever time for over two years over the distance inside the European Championships ‘A’ qualifying standard.

The former Loughborough College student has been in top form recently winning the Santa Monica 5km on the roads last month and this victory is her second fastest lifetime best performance over the 3,000m steeplechase having set a then UK record of 9:37.08 in May 2008 at the Indianapolis AMC High Performance meeting.

Report by Mark Woolley.

Leading Results:
Women
1 Barbara Parker (Great Britain) 9:38.23
2 Juliane Masciana (The Janes Elite) 9:59.49
3 Jane Rudkin (unattached) 10:13.38
4 Lois Ricardi Keller (unattached) 10:23.18
5 Jodie Leal (unattached) 10:39.39
6 Karla Alburez (Nike Team Run LA) 10:46.81
7 Tara Dressler (Canada) 11:02.05

Tuesday 1st June 2010

JODIE Williams, the World Youth 100 and 200 metre champion underlined her huge potential with another record-breaking performance at the CAU Inter-Counties Championships at the Bedford International Stadium, (30th-31st May).

Williams clocked 11.24secs in the 100m to break the United Kingdom junior record, set 31 years ago by Kathy Cook by a margin of 0.03secs.

The 16-year-old's victory also put her well clear at the top of this year's British rankings for any age group. The performance comes just a week after Williams set a European youth 200m record at the McCain Loughborough International.

Loughborough student Hayley Jones, the 2007 European 200m champion finished second in a new personal best of 11.46secs, with fellow African Violet Louise Bloor third in 11.74.

Loughborough graduate and British record-holder Goldie Sayers continued her strong comeback from injury with a best of 63.15m in the javelin, whilst, fellow Alumni Emeka Udechuka won the discus with a throw of 59.06.

Eden Francis representing Leicestershire & Rutland won the shot competition with a best of 16.13m and finished runner-up in the discus with 55.03. Team mate Laura Samuel finished fifth in the triple jump with a mark of 12.16m in the competition won by Nadia Williams with 13.16.

In the women’s 3,000m track walk Beijing Olympian Jo Jackson won the title with a time of 12:57.08, as the Leicestershire duo of Fiona McGorum and Jasmine Nicholls finished 5th and 9th with times of 15:42.96 and 16:48.76.

Full results are available on the following link: www.thepowerof10.info/resultsfiles/2010/34185_6123_31052010190241_CAU_RESULTS_2010.pdf

Sunday 30th May 2010

WORLD heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis in very difficult weather conditions held off a strong challenge from Olympic bronze medallist Tatyana Chernova to secure victory at the IAAF World Multi-Events Challenge Hypo-Meeting in Gotzis, Austria.

Ennis headed into the second day of competition with a healthy lead of 277points ahead of the field, however, in very heavy rain the 24-year-old athlete from the steel city of Sheffield had to show all her metal to hold on for victory.

Ennis had to wait until the final event of the afternoon, the 800m, to gain the win following Russian Tatyana Chernova’s fine performances earlier in the long jump and javelin as Great Britain’s reigning outdoor heptathlon and indoor pentathlon champion secured victory with an impressive margin of 117points ahead of the field with a total of 6,689.

Ennis’s performance was well outside of Denise Lewis’s decade old British record of 6,831 due to the adverse weather conditions at the Austrian venue.

In the long jump Ennis produced a best of 6.13m as the second placed athlete over night, American Hyleas Fountain, withdrew from the competition with injury. Chernova, however, was in sparkling form recording a huge leap of 6.52m to win the event.

In the javelin Ennis recorded a throw of 43.40m as Chernova continued to eat into her lead with another fine effort of 51.35m.

As in Berlin at the World championships last summer Ennis led home the field in the two-lap final 800m in first place with a time of 2:11.19 to give her overall victory.

Chernova clocked 2:13.97 to secure second place with a total of 6,572points ahead of the Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Yosypenko (6,260).

Great Britain’s other two competitors in Gotzis Louise Hazel finished in 17th place on 5,819points, as Phyllis Agbo with no mark in the long jump failed to finish the competition.

Report by Mark Woolley.

Full results are available on the following link: www.meeting-goetzis.at/ergebnisse/anavig/details7.htm

Sunday 30th May 2010

LOUGHBOROUGH Alumni Andy Turner (110m hurdles) and Samson Oni (high jump) secured fine individual victories on the track and field for British athletes in action at the rain and wind affected FBK Games in Hengelo.

In 28th edition of the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games, the biggest track meeting in The Netherlands, European and Commonwealth champion Andy Turner, who recently won the Powerade Great CityGames in Manchester, continued his excellent form by edging out Jamaica's Dwight Tomas and the United States' Ty Akins over 110m hurdles. Turner’s winning time was clocked at a wind-assisted 13.34, with Olympic champion Dayron Robles falling at the last hurdle. European junior champion Lawrence Clarke claimed sixth in 13.73.

In the high jump, UK indoor champion Samson Oni claimed the biggest victory of his career, beating world champion Yaroslav Rybakov. Oni defeated the Russian on countback with a clearance of 2.24m to record arguably the big shock of the day.

Olympic 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu finish third in the women's 200m in 23.52secs as America's World indoor 400m gold medallist Debbie Dunn and the Cayman Islands' Cydonie Mothersill took first and second respectively. Scotland’s Lee McConnell’s was fourth in 23.64.

The men's 100m went to form with Churandy Martina clocking 10.15secs seconds to win a slow race ahead of Jamaica's Mario Forsythe. Trell Kimmons of the US was third.

The women's event went to America's Carmelita Jeter, who produced a fine run to defeat Bahamian Debbie Ferguson. Chandra Sturrup was third behind a winning time of 11.16.

World bronze medallist Jenny Meadows in the women's 800m, the 29-year-old, who finished second at the IAAF Diamond League in Shanghai, finished sixth on this occasion in 2:03.14. Commonwealth Games champion Janeth Jepkosgei took victory in 2:02.03, ahead of Slovakia’s Lucie Klocova as the UK champion Jemma Simpson making her European debut in 2010 claimed third in 2:02.88.

European indoor finalist Nick McCormick clocked 7:54.08 to finish 15th in the men's 3,000m ahead of his appearance over 1500m at the Oslo Diamond League meeting.

In the women’s 1500m Olympic champion Nancy Langat of Kenya claimed victory in 4:02.09 ahead of the USA’s Christin Wurth-Thomas (4:04.88).

Hannah England finished fifth in 4:07.97 ahead of the UK champion Charlene Thomas, eighth in 4:10.31 as Helen Clitheroe, the UK 3,000m steeplechase record-holder finished 10th in 4:13.36.

Ethiopian superstar Meseret Defar was simply awesome over 5,000m, taking victory in a time of 14:38.87. World junior 1500m champion Steph Twell finished 15th in 15:40.88, whilst, Loughborough student Emily Pidgeon secured 18th in 15:58.85.

Full results are available on the following link: www.iaaf.org/results/eventcode=4441/IWCtextresults.html

Saturday 29th May 2010

DOUBLE World heptathlon and pentathlon champion Jessica Ennis on the same day as the Eurovision song contest takes place in Oslo was singing all the right tunes for Great Britain at the Gotzis Hypo-Meeting as the Sheffield athlete dominated the opening day of competition leading after four events with a huge margin of 277 points ahead of the field.

Ennis arrived in Gotzis chasing Denise Lewis's 10-year-old British record of 6,381 points and looking to lay the ghosts of two-years ago to rest when her Olympic dreams ended in tears at the same Austrian venue returning home to Sheffield with a fractured right foot.

Two-years on and two global golds in the bag, Ennis in the first event at the Moesle Stadion opened her account finishing a narrow runner-up over the 100m hurdles clocking a time of 12.89secs (-0.7) as one of her main rivals, American Olympic silver medallist Hyleas Fountain, prevailed in 12.87.

That short lead was to only last until the end of the next event, as in the high jump which is Ennis’s strongest discipline the 24-year-old cleared 1.91m to gain a total of 1,119 points taking the lead 150-points clear of Hyleas Fountain, who could only register only 1.79m.

Performance of the day for Ennis came in the shot as she set superb lifetime best of 14.25m to secure second place giving her a total of 3,071 points, 204 clear of the field after three events.

Fountain consolidated her second place with a best of 13.45m (2,867pts) with the Ukraine’s Olympic champion Natallia Dobrynska third on 2,835 points.

Back on the track Ennis was simply sublime over 200m winning in a time of 23.31secs ending the first day on a total of 4,119 points, 277 ahead of Fountain (3,842), with the former world junior champion Tatyana Chernova of Russia in third (3,765).

Britain’s other two competitors in Gotzis, Phylis Agbo and Louise Hazel finished in 21st (3,437) and 23rd (3,365) places respectively.

Oleksiy Kasyanov, who finished fourth at last summer's World Championships, leads the way in the men's competition with a score of 4,463.

After setting an outdoor best of 7.97m in the long jump which saw him move into the lead after two events he stayed in front after his 15.01m shot put and although he edged back to second place, behind the United States' Bryan Clay after the high jump, he regained the lead after running 48.21secs in the 400m, 13 points ahead of Clay, the 2008 Olympic Games champion.

Report by Mark Woolley.

Full results are available on the following link: www.meeting-goetzis.at/ergebnisse/anavig/details7.htm

Thursday 27th May 2010

SPRINT superstar Usain Bolt produced yet another brilliant performance but narrowly failed to break Michael Johnson's 10-year-old world 300 metres record in a rain-affected IAAF Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava.

Jamaican missed the world record by just 0.12seconds, this following a 20 minute rain delay to the programme. The world 100 and 200m record-holder clocked 30.97secs finishing well clear of fellow Jamaican Jermaine Gonzales (32.49).

Asafa Powell produced the performance of the night as the former world 100m record holder lowered his five-year-old meeting record by 0.02 with a superb time of 9.83secs, this on a wet track.

Powell finished clear of compatriots Lerone Clarke (10.18) and Dexter Lee (10.20) to set a new world-leading time, replacing the 9.86 which Bolt achieved in Daegu eight days ago.

Powell was also timed at 9.07 for the imperial 100 yards distance, decimating the previous world best for the distance of 9.2 set by Charlie Greene in 1967.

A consolation for Bolt was that his clocking did represent the fastest ever mark posted at sea level - Johnson achieved his time at altitude in Pretoria - surpassing the 31.30 which Olympic and world 400m gold medallist LaShawn Merritt, who last month it had emerged had returned three positive drug tests, ran in Eugene last year.

Powell's 100m final saw Tyrone Edgar and Craig Pickering claim fifth and sixth positions with times of 10.37 and 10.43, but Mark Lewis-Francis, a previous winner in Ostrava, was disqualified for a false start.
David Greene producing the best performance of the night for the British athletes finishing runner up in the 400m hurdles behind world champion Kerron Clement.

Greene, who was seventh at the World Championships in Berlin last August, was 0.36 slower than Clement in a time of 49.05 with Isa Phillips of Jamaica third in 49.16.

Loughborough Alumni and 2006 European Championship bronze medallist Rhys Williams finished fourth in 49.28.

Loughborough University graduate and World 110m hurdles finalist William Sharman, who missed the indoor season with a broken wrist, achieved a summer's best of 13.57 to finish third, but was no match for Olympic champion and world-record holder Dayron Robles.

The Cuban clocked a time of 13.12 ahead of Czech Petr Svoboda (13.55), while European and Commonwealth bronze medallist Andy Turner placed sixth in 13.76.

Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu, winner in Ostrava two years ago, had to settle for fourth in her 400m race as Denisa Rosolova of the Czech Republic claimed a surprise victory in 50.05.

Ohuruogu, with her thigh heavily strapped clocked 51.58, as second and third places went to the Jamaican pair of Shericka Williams, the Olympic silver medallist, in 51.13 and Rosemarie White in 51.18.

In pouring rain Loughborough graduate Goldie Sayers had only one valid javelin throw of 56.05m to finish fourth in a the competition where Slovenia's Martina Ratej defeated home favourite Barbora Spotakova, the world record holder.

David Rushida, who is planning to chase the world 800m record at the Oslo Diamond League meeting next Friday, was a comfortable winner over the distance in 1:44.03. Brit’s Michael Rimmer and Andy Baddeley finished seventh and ninth respectively with times of 1:46.47 and 1:47.46.