Athletics Weekly – July 24, 2019

ACTION EUROPEAN ATHLETICS UNDER-20 CHAMPIONSHIPS, BORÅS, SWEDEN, JULY 18-21

title was won by Turkey in 3:08.34.

The GB men’s quartet, after runs

from Lewis Davey, Callum Dodds

and Ben Hawkes, led on the final

leg of their heat. However, their

campaign came to an end as

Michael Fagbenie pulled up injured

after 70m.

Italy’s Edoardo Scotti, who was

fourth at last year’s World U20

Championships, clocked 45.85 to

win the men’s 400m. Britain’s Ethan

Brown finished strongly but had to

be content with fifth in 46.45, just

one hundredth outside his PB.

Britain had high hopes in the

men’s 200m, but Joe Ferguson,

who was second on the season

rankings, could not take his place in

the semi-final on Saturday morning

due to a calf injury he sustained in

his heat on Friday. Ireland’s Aaron

Sexton thus went into the final as

favourite but was marginally run

out of the medals in fourth in 21.18.

Gold went to Netherlands’ Onyema

Adigida in 21.08 as Germany’s Elias

Goer (21.16) took silver. Third was

Italy’s Mattia Donola in 21.18 while

Britain’s Praise Olatoke was fifth in

21.21.

Britain gained three golds on day

three and joining Hunt and Boffey in

victory was Josh Zeller after a great

display of hurdling. The Brit clocked

13.39 to come home well clear in

the 110m hurdles as Netherlands’

Mark Heiden was second with a PB

of 13.58 and France’s Paul Chabauty

was third in 13.64.

“I feel great,” said Zeller. “I came

here for that gold medal and it feels

so amazing to have gone and done

what I have been thinking about for

however many months.”

Jack Sumners missed out on the

final, finishing sixth in his semi-final

in 13.87.

Lucy-Jane Matthews had the race

of her life as she claimed bronze in

the 100m hurdles in a UK under-18

best of 13.38. The youngest athlete

in the field was 0.13 under her

previous PB.

Home nation favourite Tilde

Johansson was a clear winner,

taking more than two tenths from

her PB with 13.16. GB’s Marcia Sey

had clocked 13.88 but missed out

on the final by 0.03 seconds.

There was another home win

in the men’s 400m hurdles as

Carl Bengtstrom got gold in the in

50.32 ahead of Britain’s Seamus

Derbyshire who ran a 50.86 PB.

Derbyshire’s compatriot Alistair

Chalmers, by far the quickest in

Europe in the age group this year,

had been disqualified at the semi-

final stage for running outside of

his lane.

The women’s 400m hurdles title

was claimed by Femke Bol of the

Netherlands after a run of 56.25,

with GB’s Marcey Winter finishing

sixth with a PB of 58.18.

There was double sprint success

for Italy as the nation claimed a

100m double through Lorenzo

Paissan and Vittoria Fontana.

First, Paissan won the men’s title

in 10.44 (0.0m/sec) from Poland’s

Antoni Plichta with 10.52 as Chad

Miller claimed Britain’s first medal

of the championships, clocking

10.53 for bronze.

“I am really, really happy,”

said Miller. “It is a battle. At

championships you don’t look for

times, you look to fight, it’s war.

“Bronze is very special, it is my

first Great Britain medal. I wanted

Tilde

Johansson:

sprint

hurdles

winner

Femke Bol:

400m hurdles

victory

Thomas Carmoy:

high jump gold

for Belgium

Josh Zeller: storms to 110m hurdles gold

Home win: Carl

Bengtstrom won the

400m hurdles from

Seamus Derbyshire

and Slovakia’s Matej

Baluch