by Stuart Weir
Day 2
Day 2 of the Novuna UK Indoor UK Athletics championships offered a program of 17 finals four and a half hours. Just as day 1 had started with the disappointing news that Georgia Hunter Bell had dropped out with an injury. Day 2 started with the news that Josh Kerr, who had travelling from USA to compete in the 3k had also withdrawn with a back strain. GB is strong at men’s middle distance but with Josh Kerr injured and Jake Wightman and Neil Gourley opting out of indoors, the races were not what they might have been. In yesterday’s report I made a joke about Keely running a national record in the prelim (1:56.33). All was revealed today when Keely did not appear for the final. She is saving her energy for an attempt on the world record in Lieven on Friday.
The 200n indoor is not a championship distance with concerns that runners in the outside lanes have a distinct advance over those running the tighter bends on the indoor lanes. That said the races were exciting with prelims, semi and final on the same day. Jeremiah Azu British Champion at 60m yesterday – not to mention World and European 60m champion last year – won in 20.77, commenting: “It’s about time that I became a proper sprinter and covered the 60m, 100m and the 200m. The 200m indoors is mainly for training; there is a level of speed that you get in competition that you won’t get in training. We had more time between races in the 60m yesterday than the 200m today, which is a bit crazy but exciting. It’s an honour to win medals nationally and race the best in the UK that are around at the time. Heading into Poland next month for the World Indoors, I feel like I am in a good place, yesterday was solid – three good rounds. The three rounds today had to be measured. I want to start doubling up outdoors, so this weekend was an experiment to see if I can handle the load”.
Azu also made a case for the inclusion of 200 in championships, arguing for 9 athletes in a kind of time trial, running in three races in the outside lanes with the winner decided on time over the three races.
When Renee Regis won the women’s 200 in a championship record of 22.95, she had two surprises – her time and the person presenting the medals. She explained: “I didn’t expect to run that fast in the semi-final. My coaches told me to hit it and commit, so that’s exactly what I did. It made me confident going into the final, but you can’t get too overconfident about it. You have to stay focused because I wanted to win the gold medal. It is a mix of the lessons from my coaches and my parents (John Regis and Jennifer Stout). I take in all that they say, so they are all a big help to me. It was quite funny to see my Dad was presenting me with the medal. He didn’t tell me he was doing it, but it was a really nice moment”.
