Medals at British Championships

There were five medals for Woodford athletes at the British Indoor Championships which were held at Birmingham this weekend. Performances were led by a gold for Sam Khogali, silvers for Cameron Fillery and Youcef Zatat and a bronze each for Howard Bell and Will Grimsey. Several others also performed well at those Championships.

Sam Khogali who placed 3rd the previous weekend at the BUCS Championships went better in the British Senior Championships as he took the long jump title with an indoor personal best of 7.54m. Youcef Zatat’s silver came in the Shot where his best put of 17.79m saw him a clear second. Cameron Fillery’s silver was on the Sunday in the 60mH where having qualified from his heat with 7.90 secs Cameron improved to 7.85 secs to take 2nd in a final which saw David King disqualified. Howard Bell picked up his British Championships bronze medal in the heptathlon where a solid series included p.b.’s over 60m (7.32 secs), 60mH (8.32 secs), and season’s best in each of the high jump (1.96m) and 1000m (2m46.50 secs). His other marks were SP, 12.34m and PV, 4.45m which contributed to a final points tally of 5434. Will Grimsey’s bronze came in the high jump where his 2.09m shared 3rd spot with two others, and although some way from his best it was Will’s first competition since May 2021 when he placed 2nd for GB in the European Team Championships and his season was then cut short with an achilles injury. Over 400m, Yemi Mary John excelled to make the final. The 18-year-old, U/20 athlete who last season was the European Junior silver medalist outdoors placed 2nd in her heat with 54.46 secs, then 3rd in the quickest semi with 53.07 secs to progress to the final as a fastest loser . Yemi Mary then placed 6th in the final with 53.05 secs which just improved her absolute (outdoor) p.b. of 53.06 secs. Another to place 6th in a final was Ben Potrykus in the 3000m where his 8m06.04 was also an absolute p.b.

In the women’s 60m, Shona Vincent recorded 7.64 secs and Gwen Datey 7.66 secs, but only Shona progressed to the semi’s where she recorded 7.55 secs to finish 5th. In the men’s 60m, Oulumide Isaac ran 6.86 secs in his heat to qualify for the semi where he placed 6th with 6.82 secs. Ellis Greatrex was another to make the semi-final as he continues to make a fine return to action after long term injury. In the heats of the 400m Ellis recorded  a season's best of 47.92 to place 3rd to progress and then in the semi he improved again to 47.58 secs, an indoor p.b. to also place 3rd. In the heats of the 800m Anna Clark placed 3rd with 2m09.20 secs but was not quite quick enough to progress further and in the men’s PV, HCA member Dan Gardner cleared 4.81m.