There was a podium set of medals for Sussex athletes at Birmingham on Sunday in the finals of the British Championships and World Championships trials. Glistening brightest was Spencer Thomas (Brighton Phoenix), with a brilliant run in the 800 metres, in one of the most exciting races of the weekend.
In a tightly fought scramble for the finishing line, the race could not have been closer. With a lunge which saw Thomas raise his arm, it was unclear immediately who had won - Thomas or a fast finishing Guy Learmonth (Lasswade). After a short wait, the race was awarded to the Sussex runner,* with both men being given the same time of 1:46.79.
This battle was matched in the 110m hurdles where Saltdean’s Cameron Fillery and Plymouth's Dave King fought for the title. After a sluggish start, Fillery came storming through and dipped for the finishing line. However, King claimed the victory, with both athletes credited with a time of 13.78s. At the moment neither of them has the 13.46 seconds qualification time for Doha. They will need to secure it in the next few days if they are to be included in the British team for the World Championships.
UK number one over 1500m, Charlie Da'Vall Grice (Brighton Phoenix), does have the standard, but his Doha plane ticket is now in the hands of the selectors after he was squeezed out of the medals. In another desperately close race, a trio of Scottish athletes surged across the line ahead of Grice, with Neil Gourley (Giffnock North) clocking 3:48.36s from Josh Kerr (Edinburgh) 3:48.51s and his club mate Jake Wightman's 3:48.83s.
With the first two securing their Doha spots there is just one place left for a third 1500m runner and the selectors will have to decide between Wightman and Grice, who is one of the fastest 1500m runners in the World this year. Archie Davis (Brighton Phoenix) did well to make the final and place seventh in 3:52.18s after a 3:44.95s heat.
A five centimetre shot put personal best took Crawley's Sam Heawood over 17 metres for the first time and bagged him a bronze medal. Heawood's distance of 17.01m has only been bettered by one other Sussex athlete, Mike Winch's 20.43m from 1974. Winch, who coached British shot put legend Judy Oakes, was in Birmingham to watch his athlete, Sophie McKinna, win the 2019 title and secure her World Championships spot.
Crawley’s George Turner placed fourth in the pole vault, clearing a personal best of 5.20m. Meanwhile his sister Holly did not make the final of the 400 metres, but had the consolation of knocking a massive 0.63 seconds off her personal best, whilst going under 54 seconds for the first time in 53.78s.
In the men's 400 metres final there was a blanket finish for the minor places with Toby Harries (Brighton Phoenix), better known as a 200m sprinter taking fifth, two places ahead of Crawley’s Niclas Baker, who along with the sixth placed athlete Lee Thompson were all given the same time of 46.51s. Harries had run a fabulous personal best of 46.36s in his heat.
There were further successes for Crawley athletes with Kimbely Baptiste placing sixth in the 200m in 23.78s, and a fine eighth place for Scott Staples in the javelin with a throw of 61.19m.
Phoenix's Beth Kidger had a strong run in Saturday's 1500m heat, coming second in 4:18.75s to qualify for Sunday's final, where she finished 10th in 4:28.49. It was a slow tactical race won by Birchfield's Sarah McDonald in 4:22.94.
*The last Sussex athlete to win an 800m championship title was Steve Ovett at the AAA's in 1976.