by Stuart Weir
June 24, 2022
The Müller UK Athletics Championships got underway at the Manchester Regional Arena on Friday night with prelims in 100m, 400m, and 1500m and men’s 400h as well as some decathlon events.
The Star of the night was, arguably, Victoria Ohuruogu in the 400m, who is coached by her older sister Christine (who was herself quite good at the 400, winning Olympic gold and silver and two world championship golds). Her time of 51.53 – as she finished ahead of Keely Hodgkinson – was enough to give her a comfortable win. Hodkinson, incidentally, was running 400 as she already has a wildcard to Oregon as Diamond League champion at 800.
Laviai Nielsen (Enfield & Haringey) [52.32], Ama Pipi (Marco Airale, Enfield & Haringey) [52.46], and Zoey Clark (Ryan Oswald, Thames Valley) [52.97] were all among the heat winners with Nicole Yeargin (Quincy Watts, Pitreavie) also advancing for what is expected to be an entertaining final on Saturday.
After recently revising the British record, Matthew Hudson-Smith was the fastest qualifier in the men’s 400m in a time of 46.43. Hudson-Smith said post-race, “The plan is just to qualify, and I did not need to go crazy, so I just need to run and qualify for the worlds. I have done this for a while now, so I am used to rounds and feeling my way through. I am really buzzing to get the British record; it has been around for 25 years so almost my lifetime, so it is an honour to take it and now it inspires me to go even quicker.”
Laura Muir, Josh Kerr, Neil Gourley, and Jake Wightman won prelims of the 1500. Zharnel Hughes, Reece Prescod, Imani-Lara Lansiquot, Dina-Asher Smith, and Darryl Neita were among the winners of the 100m prelims.
