Brighton and Hove AC's Amber Anning had a remarkable weekend, setting a British Indoor record of 22.60 in the 200m on Friday, followed by a world-leading career-best time and Olympic qualifying standard of 50.56 in the 400m on Saturday at the Razorback Invitational.
Anning's impressive performance continued as she contributed a 51.05-second leg to Arkansas' world-leading 4 x 400m relay team alongside her university teammates Rosey Effiong, Nickisha Pryce, and Sanu Jallow, clocking a time of 3:25.59.
Anning, with previous indoor and outdoor bests of 23.27 and 23.31 from 2022, respectively, shattered a 25-year-old British 200m record.
Katharine Merry, the previous record holder with a time of 22.83 in 1999, congratulated Anning on social media.
“The record stood for a good amount of time,” said Merry. “Amber wasn’t even born when I sped my short back and sides around the NIA! (National Indoor Arena). Genuinely delighted to see if all as shows UK female sprinting in good health.”
In the 400m, Anning's time of 50.56 solidified her position at No. 3 on the British all-time lists.
Both times are outright Sussex AA records, and Amber is the only Sussex woman to have run sub 23 over 200m and sub 51 over 400m (her previous best was the county record of 50.68s). Last year, she became the first Sussex athlete to win a medal at the World Championships, with a bronze, as part of the 4x4oom team, in which she delivered two 49-second splits.
Watch Amber's post record-breaking race interview here.
Meanwhile, also in the USA, Brighton Phoenix athlete George Mills smashed through the 13-minute barrier for 5000m at the Boston University John Thomas Terrier Classic, with a clocking of 12:58.68.
Mills's previous best was 13:18.33, set last summer in his only previous attempt at the distance.
The time is an Olympic qualifier and moves Mills to third place in the British All-Time rankings. Now, only Marc Scott and Mo Farah (outdoors) have run faster than him over 5000m.