In-form Jazmin Sawyers continued her winning run by beating Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill in the long jump in front of a 3,000 thousand-strong crowd at the 57th annual Loughborough International Athletics Match.
Sawyers – who does some of her training at the University of Bath – claimed victory for England with a leap of 6.29m, following on from her success at the Great City Games in Manchester eight days earlier.
London 2012 heptathlon champion Ennis-Hill, making her first competitive field-event appearance for two years, was third with 6.16m.
“I’m really pleased with the win but I hoped for a little bit further,” Sawyers told the England Athletics website. “I wanted a breeze behind and some sunshine. We got the breeze but the sun didn’t come out! I’d have liked to jump further as I’m in much better shape than that reflected.”
Ennis-Hill returned to the track less than two hours later to finish sixth in the javelin, the Olympic champion producing a best throw of 43.88m.
University of Bath athlete David King set the qualifying standard for this summer’s European U23 Championships as he helped England to overall victory. The Sports Performance student, coached by James Hillier, smashed his personal best as he won the 110m hurdles race in 13.69.
“It was a PB and a massive progression, so I feel really, really good,” said King, who won gold for the university at the British Universities and Colleges (BUCS) Championships earlier this month and is supported by the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS).
Leon Reid
“I’m ahead of where I was this time last season, when I opened outside 14 seconds. This year I opened in 13.8, so it’s looking good.”
Leon Reid, who is also part of Hillier’s training group, also set a European U23 qualifying time as ran the 100m in a PB of 10.34. He had already set the required standard at 200m.
Sixteen-year-old Emily Wright, who is part of Dan Cossins’ training group at the University of Bath, was an impressive sixth with a clearance of 5.94m.
Laura Maddox, coached by Colin Bovell at the university, captained the Wales team at the championships and competed in the 4x400m hurdles – an event in which she won silver with Great Britain at the recent European Indoor Championships.
There was success for hosts Loughborough in the women’s 1500m as first year student Jess Judd, a Loughborough sports scholar, outkicked a very strong field to take victory in 4.12.67. Judd, ordinarily an 800m runner, will take a lot of confidence from her performance over three and three quarter laps, as her partnership with Loughborough coaching legend George Gandy continues to flourish.
Glasgow 2014 sixth placer Laura Whittle gave the local supporters yet more to cheer as she ran a scintillating last lap to win the women’s 3000m in 9.06.85. Sophie Hahn was a another local winner, with the Charnwood AC athlete winning the Ambulant 100m in a personal best of 12.93, her first time under 13 seconds.
While Mark Dry smashed his personal best, throwing 76.93m to take victory in the men’s hammer. That throw surpassed the World Championship qualifying standard, was the longest ever seen at the Paula Radcliffe stadium and was also a Scottish national record.
The final Loughborough winner of the day came in the women’s javelin, Laura Whittingham throwing 53.31m in the first round, a season’s best by almost 10 metres.
At the end of a long day of competition in the six-way match, Loughborough past and present came away third, behind strong England and GB & NI junior teams.
