England U/20 & U/23 Championships

Some impressive performances by Woodford athletes at the England Athletics under-20 and under-23 championships were headlined by medal winning races by Medwin Odamtten and Yemi Mary John which means they are going to Cali, Colombia for the world junior championships in August.

First up for Woodford on Saturday was Gwen Datey in the U20 women’s 100m. She was thrown by no-shows leading to the event going straight to the semi-final stage but was disappointed not to progress to the final with her 12.28 12th fastest overall. The U20 men had a more gentle introduction, with Sikiru Onigbanjo an automatic qualifier in 11.01 and Medwin Odamtten taking the final heat in 10.61 to become second fastest seed. In the first of two semi-finals Sikiru was run out of it despite his 10.80w (+2.6) being inside his legal PB and leaving Sikiru 12th ranked overall. Medwin finished second in the next race in 10.60 to qualify safely, albeit only 6th fastest overall due to the wind in the previous semi. In the final a good start led to a blanket finish after which Medwin was declared third, in 10.36 seconds, two hundredths behind silver and just one thousandth ahead of fourth (10.359 to 10.360). Unfortunately a 2.4m/s wind reading meant no PB or World junior qualifying standard, but the performance was sufficient to ensure Medwin is selected for the 4x100m relay team for Colombia.

In U23 events on Saturday, Emma Botham in the discus was frustrated with her 43.26, which was 4th overall in the age group but earned a bronze medal as the second placed thrower was a guest from Australia. Behind her Precious Hamliton finished 7th overall in 39.93. Louise Gilbert was 6th in the 1500m in 4:28.56, less than a second outside her PB. On Sunday Simbi Sikiru had an early start for her U23W hammer, placing 12th in 44.50. Ollie Cresswell had a straight final in the U23M 110m hurdles, finishing 6th in 14.60 albeit only one place out of the England medals.

Yemi Mary John was impressive in qualifying for the U20W 400m on Saturday, finishing almost 3 seconds ahead of the field in her heat in 53.24. The final on Sunday was closer but Yemi Mary still pulled away for a convincing win in 53.19, ahead of two of her training partners from her Loughborough based group which left her coach there, Grant Barker, celebrating a clean sweep. The result guarantees Yemi Mary selection for the 400m for the world junior champs - such is her consistency that her last 7 races have been faster than the UKA qualifying standard of 53.30. Gwen Datey rebounded from her disappointment on Saturday to qualify for the U20W 200m final on Sunday. Her 3rd place in the semi-final (24.82) seeded her as 6th fastest for the final. From a tricky outside lane she was in third off the bend but faded slightly to 6th in 24.64. This is slightly slower than the 24.58 she recorded for the silver medal at the English Schools Champs the previous weekend, when she also won a gold in the 4x100m, so this final rounded off a busy 10 days of championship running. In the U20M high jump Joba Ashiru finished 6th with 1.88m. Of Woodford HCAs competing, Amelia Watling was 7th in the U20W long jump in 5.56 and Calum Henderson 5th in 6.94 in the U23M event, with Jess Norkett 6th in the U20W 1500m final in 4:34.52 (after 4:32 in the heat).