Athletics Weekly – July 24, 2019

(Joyce) #1

European U20 Champs action – p


Spitfires out of the sun ...


WHEN Seb Coe, Tom McKean and Steve Cram came off


the final bend on their way to a clean sweep of the 800m


medals at the 1986 European Championships in Stuttgart,


they were described in one newspaper as resembling


“three Spitfires out of the sun”. The moment seemed to


epitomise the golden era of British men’s middle-distance


running but are we on the threshold of a new one?


Oliver Dustin, Ben Pattison and Finley McLear romped to


a one-two-three in the European under-20 men’s 800m


in Sweden on Sunday – with Isabelle Boffey and Keely


Hodgkinson taking gold and bronze in the women’s 800m


(see p26-33) – in a scene that was reminiscent of the


famous 1986 Euro senior final.


The trio of miniature Spitfires aside, six British juniors


have run sub-1:48 this year. Whereas at senior level eight


Brits have broken the World Champs standard of 1:45.


this year (Digest, p8-9) and the quality in the 1500m is even


stronger, as we saw by the flurry of fast times in the Emsley


Carr Mile on Sunday (see p25).


Tokyo will probably come too soon for many of the British


800m talents but recent results bode well for the future.


n THE European Junior Championships in Latvia in 1999


was one of the first international events I covered for


AW and is one of my most enjoyable memories as an


athletics reporter. Many of the stars of the championships


subsequently disappeared, such as Sina Schielke, who was


dubbed the ‘new Katrin Krabbe’ after winning a 100m and


200m double. But lots of others went on to enjoy successful


careers such as Jade Johnson, Mark Lewis-Francis and


Tosin Oke, who were all part of the GB team.


Who knows what the future holds for the class of 2019, but


the British team, who topped the medals table in Borås with


six golds and 15 medals in total, will have memories to last


a lifetime (see p26-33).


Jason Henderson,
editor

DIGEST


6 Miguel Francis makes mark with sub-20 for 200m in London


7 Emotional medal moment for Goldie Sayers


8 Jamie Webb goes full time – with immediate success


9 Kyle Langford recovers from dislocated knee to run PB


10 Andy Young’s middle-distance squad enjoys Euro success


ACTION


12 MÜLLER ANNIVERSARY GAMES


Jason Henderson, Steve Smythe and Jessica Whittington report


from the London Stadium as Laura Muir, Lynsey Sharp and


Jonnie Peacock are among the home winners over two days of


Diamond League action


26 EUROPEAN UNDER-20 CHAMPIONSHIPS


Sprinter Amy Hunt, Isabelle Boffey, Oliver Dustin and Josh Zeller


are among the British winners in Borås, Sweden, as the nation’s


top junior athletes take on the best talent in the continent and


emerge top of the medals table


CONTENTS


MARK SHEARMAN

The three
Spitfires
in 1986

GETTY IMAGES FOR EUROPEAN ATHLETICS
Free download pdf