EUROPEAN ATHLETICS UNDER-20 CHAMPIONSHIPS, BORÅS, SWEDEN, JULY 18-21 @ATHLETICSWEEKLY
Hunt and Zeller
storm to success
IT WAS difficult to see beyond
Britain’s Amy Hunt when looking for
a potential winner of the 200m. The
recent setter of a world under-18
record of 22.42 came into the
championships more than three
quarters of a second quicker than
anyone else in her age group on
the continent this year. She duly
delivered with a winning time of
22.94 into a 1.7m/sec headwind.
The 17-year-old had only a
slight lead coming off the bend
but powered away for victory by a
massive margin of 0.66 seconds.France’s Gemima Joseph came in
next and Belgium’s Lucie Ferauge
clocked 23.63 for bronze.
“I had an amazing start for once,
really powered around the first bit of
the bend and tried to maintain it in
the second half and I really went for
it down the home straight. I could
hear my name being screamed,
which is really special – it was really
awesome,” said Hunt.
“It is incredible. It has been a
quick turnaround but a great learning
curve. I have learnt a lot about
myself and how my recovery works
and the team that support me.”
The other Brit in the final,
Georgina Adam, was fifth in 23.75.Hannah Kelly went out in the semi-
final earlier in the day after clocking
23.76 for sixth.
Twenty four hours later, Hunt
teamed up with Cassie-Ann
Pemberton, Adam and Immanuela
Aliu and the quartet clocked 44.11
to win the women’s 4x100m ahead
of the Dutch team (44.21) and
Germany (44.34).
There was further relay success
for GB as Natasha Harrison, Isabelle
Boffey, Louise Evans and Amber
Anning ran a world under-20 lead
of 3:33.03 to win the 4x400m ahead
of Belarus with a national under-20
record of 3:37.06 and Poland with
3:37.13.That secured a second title for
800m winner Boffey and a second
medal for Anning after her 400m
silver behind neutral athlete Polina
Miller. There, pre-race favourite Miller
took gold in 51.72 as Anning ran
52.18 after a strong finish to move
to third on the UK all-time under-20
list. Not since 1982 has a British
junior run as quick. Evans (54.06)
was seventh.
There was gold for Germany in
the men’s 4x100m as the quartet
pipped GB by 0.01 with 39.79, but the
British team missed out on medals
after later being disqualified.
Silver went to Italy and bronze to
Netherlands. The men’s 4x400mIndividual 400m silver medallist Amber Anning,
Louise Evans, 800m winner Isabelle Boffey and
Natasha Harrison celebrate 4x400m successAmy Hunt wins the women’s 200m in 22.94 with
team-mate Georgina Adam finishing in fifthGeorgina Adam, Immanuela Aliu, Amy Hunt and Cassie-Ann Pemberton after winning the 4x100m
Germany took
the men’s
4x100m relay