by Larry Eder
This is the 4th column on the British Indoor Champs by our European senior writer, Stuart Weir.
Teenage athletes
One of the most exciting aspects of last weekend’s Microplus UK Indoor Champs was the number of outstanding teenage athletes participating. On day 1 alone, I counted 59 athletes aged 15-19. And they were not just there to make up the numbers.
The youngest competitor was Darcy Coslett, 15, who reached the semi-final of the 400 and ran a 200, setting PRs in both events. She also broke Jodie Williams’ long-standing British U17 record, recording a time of 54.50 in Birmingham.
17-year-old Otis Poole won the high jump with a PR of 2.20, commenting: “It feels amazing given that I wasn’t even coming here until Wednesday! Then it was all a bit of a rush. It probably helped as it didn’t give me time to get nervous. Every time I cleared, I felt there was room to improve, so I kept going, and I am delighted and surprised to clear 2.20m. I have high school tomorrow, so there is no real time to celebrate, but I reckon I might get a Chinese tonight!”
16 year old Shaikira King came third in the 800 in 2:04.64. She said afterwards, “It means a lot to me as I didn’t expect it today, but I ran a gutsy race and stayed with the leaders all the way through. I hope to get to the Euros U20s this summer and work on getting my PBs down”.
Another winner was Daniel Goriola, with 7,76 in the 60m hurdles. It was only 19, but it wasn’t even his first national title, as he was the 2024 national 110m hurdles champion. He was delighted: “It feels great to become British champion for the second time and first indoors. It all happened so quickly and is a bit of a blur. I need to watch it again to see what really happened. I can’t complain with a season’s best, but of course I want more and I am looking forward to the outdoors which is my big focus”.
It was a teenage double with 18-year-old Iolo Grant running a 7.83 PR for second place behind Goriola. He was still processing it all: “It hasn’t sunken in yet; it is crazy and in front of all these fans. My first time at the stadium was incredible. I’ll drive back to Cardiff later, so there’s no time to celebrate. Coming here all feels real, motivating me to improve and do my best. My big goal this year is the Euros U20 and qualifying for that”.
Kissiwaa Mensah was second in the women’s 200, but it felt better: “I tripped a little at the start, but I wanted to continue to the end and see how it goes. I came here to win a medal, so to come away with one, I am happy. I saw Allyson Bell before me and didn’t want to let her go”. 17 year old Ava Freeman ran two PRs in the same afternoon but missed the final.
17 year-old Isabella Turner cleared 4:11 to take bronze in the pole vault: “I had the under 20s just two weeks ago so to come and medal in the senior champs as a 17-year old feels amazing. When I reached a height of 4.11, I wanted to get the PB; I hadn’t thought about medals. A PB and a medal are all I can hope for. To jump 4.21m, I had to go up a pole, so that was tough. Euros U20 in Finland is now realistic, and I have jumped the qualifier today”.
See Shaikira King talk to Jasmine Collett of AW at:
https://x.com/i/status/1893359201851687022
