European Junior Championships July 21 - 24

The European Junior Championships commence in Tallinn, Estonia tomorrow, here is the British team:

MEN

100m: David Bolarinwa (John Powell) - Newham & Essex Beagles; Adam Gemili (John Blackie) - Blackheath & Bromley; Sam Watts (Gladys Bird) - Woodford Green with Essex Ladies; 200m: Bolarinwa; 400m: Jarryd Dunn (Keith Holt) - Birchfield; 800m: Guy Learmonth (Henry Gray) - Lasswade AC; 1500m: Cameron Boyek (David Lowes) - Shildon; Adam Cotton (John Nuttall) - Birchfield; Charlie Grice (Jon Bigg) - Phoenix AC; 5000m: Jonny Hay (Mick Woods) - Aldershot, Farnham & District; 10,000m: Karl Billington (Arthur Almond) - Blackburn; Paul Thompson (Nick Price) - Birmingham Running and Triathlon Club; David Vernon (Graham Smith) - Victoria Park City of Glasgow; 110mH: Ben Kelk (Bob Smith) - Cambridge & Coleridge; Jack Meredith (Malcolm Arnold) - Liverpool Harriers; Andy Pozzi (Malcolm Arnold) - Stratford-Upon-Avon; 400mH: Paul Bennett (Judith Gooding) - Swansea; Ben Hopkins (Marina Armstrong) - Blackheath & Bromley; 4 x 100m: Bolarinwa; Gemili; Jordan Kirby Polidore (Craig Burrow) - Woodford Green with Essex Ladies; Judah Simpson (Keith Bullock) - Derby; Dannish Walker-Khan (Linford Christie) - Birchfield; Watts; 4 x 400m: George Caddick (Dominic Tighe) - Sale Harriers Manchester; Dunn; David Lagerberg (Phil Scott-Spencer) - Mansfield; Greg Louden (Dave Finlayson) - Lasswade AC; Dominic Smith (Rodger Hughes) - Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow; Pole Vault: Cameron Walker-Shepherd (Charles Preston) - Birchfield; Long Jump: James McLachlan (Denis Costello) - City of Norwich; Javelin: Joe Dunderdale (David Parker) - Lincoln Wellington; Richard Shuttleworth (Bronwin Carter) - City of Portsmouth

WOMEN

100m: Marilyn Nwawulor (Harry King) - Harrow; Jodie Williams (Mike McFarlane) - Herts Phoneix; 200m: Williams; 400m: Lucy James (Nick Dakin) - Bedford & County; Katie Kirk (Mark Kirk) - Lagan Valley; Kirsten McAslan (Trevor Painter) - East Cheshire; 800m: Rowena Cole (Norma Pugh) - Coventry; 1500m: Jennifer Walsh (Deborah Rowlands) - Spenborough; 3000m: Emelia Gorecka (Mick Woods) - Aldershot, Farnham & District*; 5000m: Gorecka*; Annabel Gummow (Chris Wooldridge) - Bristol & West; 400mH: Abigayle Fitzpatrick (Morris Condon) - Sale Harriers Manchester; Megan Southwart (Colin Bovell) - Blackheath & Bromley; Sophie Wood (John Baron) - Durham; 4 x 100m: Jennie Batten (Roger Walters) - Stroud; Mica Moore (Lawrence Moore) - Cardiff; Nwawulor; Annie Tagoe (Connie Henry) - Thames Valley; Bianca Williams (Lloyd Cowan) - Enfield & Haringey; Jodie Williams; 4 x 400m: Yimika Adewakun (Jason Carty) - Blackheath & Bromley; Zoey Clark (Edward McKenna) - Aberdeen; Amelia Clifford (Michael Coker) - Southampton; James; Kirk; McAslan; High Jump: Emma Nuttall (Laurier Primeau) - Edinburgh AC; Isobel Pooley (George Male) - Aldershot, Farnham & District; Pole Vault: Katie Byres (Julien Raffalli) - Sale Harriers Manchester; Triple Jump: Ahtollah Rose (Keith Hunter) - Sale Harriers Manchester; Javelin: Izzy Jeffs (Simon de Wilton) - North Devon; Freya Jones (William Bushnell) - Southampton; Kike Oniwinde (Sam Harrison) - Havering Mayesbrook; Hammer: Abi Carter (Dave Smith) - Kingston-Upon-Hull; Myra Perkins (Alan Bertram) - Falkirk Victoria Harriers; Heptathlon: Katarina Johnson-Thompson (Mike Holmes) - Liverpool Harriers

*Gorecka will compete in either the 3000m or 5000m, not both

Studying the team, on the men's side David Bolarinwra, Adam Gemili, Adam Cotton, Charlie Grice, Johnny Hay, Andy Pozzi, Jack Meredith, and Joe Dunderdale stand out. The leading members of the girl's team include Jodie Williams, Katie Kirk, Emelia Gorecka, Izzy Jeffs, Freya Jones, Myra Perkins and Katarina Thomspon-Johnson.

Action can be followed via the European Athletics website:

http://www.european-athletics.org/

What age group is the championships for under 20? and do you know if it will be on terriestial tv?

Think it's only on eurosport.

In answer to your question lfc91, athletes born in years 1992 - 95 are eligible for this competition and UKA has a general policy of allowing age group athletes to compete only in one championship - ie Youth (under 17), Junior (under 20) or Under 23s per year.

Day One was pretty good for the British team. Jarryd Dunn set a PB in the heats of the 400m with 47.35, he backed this up with 47.51 in the semi to scrape through to the final - two Russians won the semis - Kashefraznov and Uglov. As expected Jodie Williams was by far the fastest qualifier for the 100m final, setting an SB of 11.33 into a headwind of -1.3, given favourable conditions she's likely to threaten her 11.24 PB. Marylyn Nwawulor finished 2nd in her semi, clocking 11.71 to book her place in the final.

Rowena Cole established herself as a medal contender in the 800m, winning her heat in 2:05.65. James McLachlan qualified for the Long Jump final with 7.34m, though he was well behind the leading mark, 7.80m set by Sergei Morgunov of Russia. The most impressive track performance of the day has to be by France's Jimmy Vicaut, who ran an astounding 10.12 into a -1.8m headwind to win a semi-final of the 100m. Sam Watts, David Bolarwinra, and Adam Gemili all made it through to the final, the latter two winning their semis, though it seems they're all racing for 2nd place - Gemili was 2nd fastest qualifier with 10.49. Katie Kirk and Lucie James both made it through to the 400m final, James setting a PB of 53.87 to finish 2nd in her semi. They're up against two quick Romanians - Biana Razor and Adelina Pastor. Katie Byres qualified with ease in the Pole Vault, clearing 4.10, her main opposition comes from Lilli Schnitzerling who had no failures on her way to qualification. All 1500m boys progressed - with Adam Cotton looking the most impressive winning his heat, Cameron Boyek and Charlie Grice also moved through, though they only finished 6th and 5th in their heats, gaining fastest loser spots.

There were mixed fortunes for our junior Javelin men, Richard Shuttleworth qualified courtesy of his first throw over 70m - 70.73m, however the multi-talented Joe Dunderdale, could only manage 66.97m and finished 9th in his pool. This was nothing compared to the disappointment experienced by Paul Thompson who collapsed on the ante-penultimate lap of the 10,000m in silver medal position. 30C heat brutalised the field and eventuated in Thompson's DNF. The race was won by Spain's Gabriel Navarro in 30:02.18, 90 seconds ahead of 2nd placer, Emmanuel Lejeune of Belgium. Other Brits David Vernon and Karl Billington finished 6th and 9th, respectively. You've got to say these boys have been desperately unlucky with the weather, having trained in cool, windy and damp conditions for the past month or so.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson lies 3rd overnight in the Heptathlon, led by one of the athletes of the games - Dafne Shippers of the Netherlands. Shippers is exceptionally quick for a junior heptathlete, posting marks such as 13.27 for the 100m Hurdles and 22.92 for the 200m. So far Johnson-Thompson has excelled in the High Jump - making 1.84m and equalled her PB in the 200m, clocking 24.25.

Britain began its medal tally in fine style this afternoon as Jodie Williams smashed the 26-year-old Championship Record in the 100m final. Williams clocked a PB of 11.18 to erase Kerstin Behrendt's 11.21 mark. Given that Behrendt was A) East German and that B) her performance happened before random drug testing came into effect in 1988 it's pretty safe to assume Behrendt was high as a kite when she set this record, so it's particularly satisfying to see it consigned to the dustbin of history. Jimmy Vicaut arguably upstaged Williams with an even more emphatic victory in the boys' equivalent - clocking 10.07 to finish well ahead of Adam Gemili and David Bolarwinra in 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Gender roles are now being reversed when it comes to the Anglo-French sprint rivalry, as Vicaut and Lemaitre look set to dominate on the men's side whilst the likes of Williams and Desiree Henry are superior to any young Frenchwomen at the moment.

Andy Pozzi and Jack Meredith both look set fair for the 110m Hurdles final having won their semis, though Belgian Dario Seghers could provide decent opposition. Aside from the sprints, the boy's Long Jump provided the best quality event of the day, two went over eight metres with Russian Sergey Morgunov beating Pole Tomasz Jaszczuk by 7cms, with 8.18m.

Disappointingly the British team failed to win a medal in either 400m race, Katie Kirk fared best, finishing 5th behind winner Bianca Razor in the girl's event. Jarryd Dunn produced a consistent series of performances, but his 47.56 was well behind a classy run by Hungary's Marcell Deac-Nagy. His 45.42 performance was only six hundreths behind Roger Black's Championship Record. Dafne Shippers romped home in the heptathlon, today's highlight being a 6.47m PB in the Long Jump. Katarina Johnson-Thompson fell away to finish 6th. Once again, like so many other British heptathletes her achilles heel is her throwing, today she threw 35.11m in the Javelin, placing her 14th for that discipline.

In the morning session Guy Learmonth progressed in the 800m heats, winning his with 1:51.19. Interestingly both Paul Bennett and Ben Hopkins set PBs in the 400m Hurdles heats but failed to progress. Megan Southwart and Sophie Wood had better luck, qualifying as fastest losers in the girls' equivalent, both running around a minute.

It was a fantastic afternoon for the British team at the Euro juniors as they bagged four Golds, two Silver and one Bronze medal to go top of the medal table in Tallinn. Jack Meredith and Andy Pozzi started the medal rush coming 1st and 2nd in the 110m Hurdles, their times - 13.50 and 13.57 weren't spectacular but like many of the sprints they were running into a headwind. I'm sure Meredith will be particularly pleased as Pozzi had beaten him several times this season. Next up Rowena Cole underlined her promise, running strongly in the home straight of the 800m to take Silver in a PB of 2:03.34.

Jodie Williams was hot favourite in the 200m but still had to deliver, she did with an SB of 22.94, into a headwind of -1.5 m/s. David Bolarwinra made it a British double, taking the boy's equivalent, this time overcoming the slight favourite Jeffrey John of France. Bolarwinra held off a two-pronged French challenge - Pierre Vincent came 2nd - and clocked a PB of 21.07 into a -2.7 m/s headwind. Success came thick and fast, and the improving Adam Cotton beat some bigger names in the 1500m, taking the title thanks to a good wind up with 200m to go, his time - 3:43.98. There's no splits available yet but I'm sure Cotton's last lap was very quick.

Johnny Hay went into the 5,000m as the fastest in the field - he ran an intelligent race and covered every move at the front. He had to contend with the 10,000m champion Gabriel Navarro of Spain, and the heat. Although he never dropped off the pace he did look cooked, so it was a gallant effort when he hit the front at the bell. Unfortunately he didn't have it in the legs to hold off Navarro and Bartosz Kowalczyk of Poland, ending up with Bronze in 14:07.78.

In the morning session both 4 x 400m teams qualified for the final, and Freya Jones made it through to the final of the Javelin with 51.27m.

Jodie Williams is phenomenal - that's all I'm going to say as I don't want to inflict the hoo-doo

Thanks for the round-ups

Jodie Williams in the 100m at European Junior Championships;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONnwiSZfvSU

Devastated the field...totally

GB with 6 golds finish 3rd in medals table behind Russia with 8 golds and Germany with 7 golds. Just ahead of France on number of silvers who also had 6 golds (all in the boys events!).

They would have had more had Turkey not decided to send their veterans team to compete.

Not as good as yesterday, but still an enthralling afternoon of athletics. A few 'if onlys' in picking up Silver in the boy's 4 x 100m and the girls' 5,000m but at least we had athletes in contention. I think there's no shame in finishing behind a particularly good French quartet in the sprint relay, though I'm sure Emelia Gorecka will be smarting at losing the 5,000m to Esma Adeymir of Turkey. Bronze was probably as good as we could hope for in the girl's 4 x 100m, although Jodie Williams is clearly a star of the future she's not backed up by other outstanding sprinters in this particular age group. As for the girl's 4 x 400m - an opportunity opened up with the disqualification of the Romanian team in the semis, and they took it. This was a really close fought race between five teams, Kirsten McAslan kept her nerve to strike at the start of the home straight and it paid off - just!

Historically Britain has won between five and nine Golds at these champs so to win six is satisfactory. We've come to expect little or no success in field events and that trend was continued here, I understand Eastern Europe will always be strong in the heavy throws, it's more part of their athletics culture and perhaps they have a better coaching infrastructure for these events. It's a bit disappointing that we barely featured in the jumps either though.

Overall it was great entertainment though the TV feed from the European Athletics website was awful. Almost as if they were trying to demonstrate how not to commentate on athletics - getting the medal order in the girl's 800m wrong because they weren't paying attention to the side on shot, getting the gender wrong during the women's 5,000m, and that old Colemanball 'he literally ran himself into the ground there' funny how said young athlete didn't disappear into the track, I had to rub my eyes to check! People who rip into the BBC coverage of athletics need to be careful what they wish for.

Gorecka and Gummow are both much younger than Adeymir anyway.

Much younger than even the age she's given for this event let alone her actual age.

I disagree about the girls 4x100 and bronze being the best they could hope for. They would have been pushing for gold had our 2nd and 3rd runners not decided to have a rest and chat for making the changeover. They must have lost a good second or two there.

East End Bodybuilder wrote:
Historically Britain has won between five and nine Golds at these champs so to win six is satisfactory. ........People who rip into the BBC coverage of athletics need to be careful what they wish for.

Many will expect slightly more given the extra money going in to the sport. Pretty poor performance as ever in the field events. My guess is the French and German's will be slightly happier with their performances.

Eurosport's commentary was fine.

I think you'll find that France and Germany fund their athletes just as much as we do.

If we won every event, there will still be 'many' who expect slightly more.

djlovesyou wrote:I think you'll find that France and Germany fund their athletes just as much as we do.

If we won every event, there will still be 'many' who expect slightly more.

Don't think you understood my point. I was talking about those who expect a bigger return for increased funding. Surely not unreasonable expectation?

For the record, we ended up doing much better than in the last championships:

In 2009 medal table was as follows:

Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Germany (GER) 10 8 7 25
2 Russia (RUS) 9 7 6 22
3 Ukraine (UKR) 4 1 0 5
4 Great Britain (GBR) 3 5 7 15
5 Azerbaijan (AZE) 3 3 0 6
6 Romania (ROU) 3 1 1 5

As shown on wikipedia.

In 2007, we got 4 golds.

Shows an improving trend. Better therefore than satisfactory.

My point was more why France and Germany would be so happy while we've got to be disappointed.

Things seem pretty even to me, but each excelling in different areas.

I had understood from EEB that GB's performances ranged from 5 to 9 gold medals. Therefore 6 didn't suggest any real improvement.

In actual fact 6 gold medals was a big improvement on the 3 and 4 in previous championships so right now I'm a lot happier. As I guess those who expect improvements in funding to be reflected in better performances, will now be.

The table shows France has improved dramatically. Germany not all but they are still quite successful at this level.

I forgot we had a below average champs last time out, five to nine is a typical spread for GB in the last 30 years. As for France, they only finished 4th in the medals table, and according to a certain former member of this board if you finish only 4th in Europe it's an absolute disaster - people should be taken out and shot etc. Marry that to the punch up on friday in Monaco and it's safe to say that French athletics is in crisis.

When comparing the UK to other countries on the medal table you need to consider that we have a population of 60 million - Germany has 80 million and Russia has 140 million. Both countries have a strong athletics tradition and a long term commitment to investing in athletics infrastructure, both in terms of people and facilities. This has barely wavered despite social and political upheaval.

Another slight advantage these countries have over us is a weaker team sport culture. Yes okay they have football like we do but no cricket, rugby league or rugby union. These sports hoover up a few hundred thousand kids that have athletic ability. Personally, I'd rather have the varied sporting culture we do have than only focus on a handful of sports.

Such variety doesn't have a transformative effect on our track & field fortunes overall but it does blunt our potential by, say 10 - 15%. Kids that might have Javelin potential end up being fast bowlers instead, would-be decathletes end up playing outside centre, shot putters become props. This is a quandry our Eastern European cousins are not confronted with.

I think that may be dissappointing for France. France are quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with. They have many upcoming stars probably more than we do.

Personally, I'll never tire of 'Britain vs France who is best?' as a proposition! It is certainly true that France now has a good crop of young senior and junior athletes. If I were French I'd be really heartened to see the emergence of Lemaitre, Tamgho, Lavillenie, Vicaut and the World Junior Decathlon champion Kevin Mayer who looks like a class act. However I wouldn't swap our senior team or junior teams for theirs. Don't forget we've got three UK record holders who are still only teenagers at the moment - Holly Bleasdale, Lawrence Okoye and Sophie Hitchon. The post Holmes/Radcliffe era of middle distance running looks bright with Twell, Peel, Gorecka and Judd. Across many events on the boy's side there are juniors placing high up in the all-time lists, like Clovis Asong, James McMurray, Charlie Grice, and Zak Seddon.
Making a pure Britain/France comparison, for many years the one area where the French were clearly superior to us was in the women's sprints. This is no longer the case with the emergence of Jodie Williams, indeed the emergence of many promising male athletes perhaps masks just how poor the French women's team is in general. If you study the European rankings here:

http://www.tilastopaja.org/db/toplist.php?list=fulltoptbeuro&All=0&Ind=0&top=30&Season=2011

You'll see that on the track the top British female athlete outranks the top French one over every distance (including the hurdles, the relays and half-marathon & marathon) with the exception of the rarely run 10,000m.

There were some interesting points made in today's Times. They were talking about France and how they have progressed in a range of sports. They put it down in part at least to fresh investments following their relatively poor performance in Bejing. They also commented about money being spent by Russia after some lean times, following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Russia had a strong investment in Pharmaceuticals after the wall fell (and before to be fair)!

Let's hope that the pre-Olympics progress by France is a blip and their increased investment is stymied by their propensity to take two hour lunches, smoke copious amounts of Gauloises, organise port blockades, and development of poor posture brought on by excessive wearing of onion garlards.