by Stuart WeirIn day two, article two, Stuart Weir writes about the British men a the second day of the British Trials. He focuses on the 110m hurdles, 400m hurdles and 400 meters. GBR has some fine athletes in these events, and they will qualify for the Athletics Cup and European Championships.
British Trials, Birmingham, England, 1 July 2018, photo by Stuart Weir
Men’s track day 2
The men’s 400m hurdles produced a lot of green energy with Dai Greene (50.06) just holding off Jack Green (50.13). It was great to see the 2011 World Champion, who has had more than his fair share of injuries in recent years, winning again.
Greene said afterwards: “I came here with the idea of winning. I made some errors at the end but I managed to hold on. I thought I’d be good in the first 300m and I’ve technically been poor in the final 100m but luckily so was everyone else. The aim was to get to Europeans. I haven’t raced much and I still feel a bit rusty. I don’t know if I have the ability to get onto the podium. It’s about grinding out the next five weeks but being British Champion today sweet”.
World Indoor Champion in the 60m hurdles, Andy Pozzi, won the 110m hurdles in 13.61, running into a -2.5m wind. Pozzi said of his performance: “It was really good fun to be out in Birmingham today. It was an interesting race with strong winds so I didn’t know what to do. When we were on the line it seemed to be coming from behind. I’m not in bad shape but I’ve had a few bad races but I’ll be ready for Berlin. There’s a lot of quality in lots of events so winning the trials and cementing my place is incredibly important”.
Matthew Hudson-Smith, is an athlete with great potential but who has yet to deliver fully. 2015 was blighted by injury. leaving him going into 2016, the Olympic year, with some uncertainty. In Rio he ran the two fastest races of his life for 8th place in the Olympic final but was then part of the relay squad controversially disqualified.
He won the men’s 400m today in 44.68 to qualify for both the European Championship and the World Cup teams, saying of his weekend’s work: “It was a good run. There’s still a lot to work on. Obviously, I’m excited about the future now and putting it all together. I was confident coming into the race as I knew if I executed my race plan and followed what my coach said I would get a quick time. There’s still a few things I need to work on, but I am getting there slowly but surely”.
Other track final winners
800m Elliot Giles 1.50.28.
5000m walk Tom Bosworth 19:01.20
