Cardiff University athlete Sally Peake was named womenÔÇÖs pole vault champion when the British Indoor Athletics Championships were held over the weekend of February 14th and 15th at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. Her gold cemented the number one ranking she has held throughout the 2015 season so far.
The healthcare studentÔÇÖs winning jump of 4.25m was some way off her best of 4.42m, but was more than enough to secure victory, with a 25cm margin of victory over the other medallists, both of whom recorded the same height. This victory can now be added to PeakeÔÇÖs outdoor British title from 2014, as well as her pair of BUCS Championship wins from the last two seasons. Her crowning achievement of course remains the Commonwealth Games silver that she won in torrential Glaswegian conditions last August.
Peake was joined in Sheffield by her Cardiff and Commonwealth Games teammate Hannah Thomas, who competed in the 200m. Having struggled with illness over the winter, Thomas managed her best time of the season to build some momentum ahead of the BUCS Indoors.
WalesÔÇÖ Paralympic Champion Aled Sion Davies was also competing at the event amongst an able-bodied field and extended his own F42 shot put world record to 15.93m. The only Paralympic competitor, he finished fifth overall.
Other members of the Welsh athletics team who were in attendance also had a thoroughly successful weekend. Though PeakeÔÇÖs was the only Welsh gold, there were silver medals for Rachel Johncock in the womenÔÇÖs 60m, Laura Maddox in the womenÔÇÖs 400m and for David Omoregie in the menÔÇÖs 60m hurdles. The pre-event favourite in MaddoxÔÇÖs event, 19 year old Welsh athlete Seren Bundy-Davies, was tripped in the final and did not finish.
JohncockÔÇÖs performance had the added bonus of constituting a new Welsh record of 7.33 seconds, while Omoregie was separately recognised at the event for the European junior 110m hurdles record he set last year. Overall, nine Welsh athletes with an average age of just 21.6 made the finals of sprints and hurdles events, though that number could have been higher with several highly talented athletes missing out.
Melissa Courtney ensured it was not all about the sprinters, however, as she took bronze in the womenÔÇÖs 1500m. This was backed up by another six top-eight placings for Welsh athletes in non-sprint events.
The event was held on the same weekend as the Welsh Junior Championships in Cardiff, meaning that some of WalesÔÇÖ most talented athletes had chosen not to compete in Sheffield, despite being eligible to do so. Commonwealth Games athlete Hannah Brier, still just 17, was one athlete who chose to compete in Cardiff and won the 200m there in a championship-best time of 24.54 seconds. There was another championship-best performance for Shannon Malone, also 17, in the 60m, with the North Wales athlete running a new personal best of 7.58 seconds.
Welsh athletes appear to be seriously upping their game in this post-Commonwealth Games year and all of the signs are suggesting that at the next Games in 2018, Wales will have arguably its strongest ever athletics team
Add Comment