Showing posts with label European Indoor Championships. Show all posts

Monday, 9 March 2015

Katarina Johnson-Thompson wins pentathlon gold at European Indoor Championships

Katarina Johnson-Thompson wins pentathlon gold at European Indoor Championships but breaks down in tears after missing out on world record

Katarina Johnson-Thompson recorded 60m hurdles PB of 8.18 seconds

22-year-old could break the pentathlon British record of Jessica Ennis-Hill

Brit is seeking her first multi-event title at a major championships

By MARTHA KELNER FOR THE DAILY MAIL

PUBLISHED: 10:08, 6 March 2015 | UPDATED: 01:15, 7 March 2015

It is a mark of Katarina Johnson-Thompson's towering potential that, minutes after winning the first major gold medal of her career, she stood in the corridors of Prague's O2 Arena draped in the Union flag, crying.

Not tears of happiness at breaking a British record previously held by Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill, or becoming only the second woman to break 5,000 points in the pentathlon.

These were tears of dejection mixed with anger. She was less than a second — or 13 points, according to pentathlon scoring — short of the world record held by Ukraine's Nataliya Dobrynska. It was within her reach and she knew it.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson won European Indoor pentathlon gold in Prague on Friday

The 22-year-old was in tears draped in a Union Jack flag after just missing out on the world record

Johnson-Thompson broke Jessica Ennis-Hill's British record but fell just short of the world record

The youngster collapsed to the floor in celebration after finishing the 800 metres

Jessica Ennis-Hill ✔ @J_Ennis
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@JohnsonThompson Well done Kat!! Amazing performance! Sad to see my record go but couldn't have gone to a more deserving athlete!

I've been tearing my brains out these last couple of weeks thinking I could get it. So to come so close, I'm disappointed,' she said before dissolving into tears.

Heading into the 800m, the final event of the day, gold was all but assured for Johnson-Thompson but she needed to run 2min 11.86sec to pass the mark set by Dobrynska in 2012. Her personal best outdoors is four seconds faster.

At the start she beamed, crossed her fingers and the BBC switched from coverage of the Davis Cup in Glasgow to show her event live. The nation was with her but after the gun went she was on her own.

Johnson-Thompson looks on after competing in the Women's Pentathlon 60 metre Hurdles

Johnson-Thompson celebrates gold in the Pentathlon at the 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships

Johnson-Thompson holds up the Great Britain flag as she celebrates winning gold in Prague

Far superior to the rest, she was forced to go it alone. At halfway, she was on course to do it but after stopping the clock on 2:12.78 she raised her hands to her head. 'I was gutted, instant regret,' she said. 'I think I could have pushed myself a bit more. I wasn't as tired as I normally am after the 800m. If someone had said to me you've got 5,000 points and a gold medal at the beginning of the day, I would have taken it, but because everything was going so well and I was so close, that's what made me so sad.'

As she gripped a bouquet atop the podium for the first time at a major championships, a montage of her day's work played on the big screen. A smile flickered across her tear-stained face.

First, a personal best of 8.18sec in the 60m hurdles, then a clearance of 1.95m in the high jump at the first attempt. She launched the shot putt 12.32m, just 17cm short of her personal best, a perfectly respectable throw in her weakest event. She briefly trailed Belgium's Nafissatou Thiam by 35 points but the long jump is where she excels. Her leap of 6.89m, 4cm shy of her national record set last month, was incredible for a multi-eventer. It would have been good enough for gold in the individual competition at six of the last seven European Indoor Championships. 'Seeing everything that I've achieved today made me a bit happier,' she said. 'It's been a long day. I got up at 6 o'clock and didn't get much rest.'

Johnson-Thompson sits under a Union Jack flag after winning gold in the Women's Pentathlon

Johnson-Thompson shows off her pentathlon gold at the European Athletic Indoor Championships

Johnson-Thompson Nafissatou Thiam (L) and Eliska Klucinova pose for photographers after medal ceremony

Morgan Lake, the 17-year-old who packed her schoolbooks alongside her spikes, excelled in only her second senior championships, scoring 4,527 points to come ninth overall. 'I was inspired by Kat,' she said.

Johnson-Thompson was congratulated by Ennis-Hill, who was watching at home as the 22-year-old broke her British record of 4,965 set in 2012. The two will meet in what promises to be a gripping battle in Gotzis, Austria, at the end of May when Ennis-Hill makes her comeback after the birth of her first baby, Reggie. But Johnson-Thompson insisted she was still the young pretender.

Johnson-Thompson broke her personal best time at the 60m hurdles in the pentathlon on Friday

Johnson-Thompson (left) won her heat in 8.18 seconds to lead the event at present with 1088 points

The 22-year-old (centre left) is congratulated by her competitors after the race

'I wouldn't call myself an equal,' she said, 'This is pentathlon, heptathlon's seven events. I need to work on A, B and C and hopefully I won't flop in the 800m in Gotzis.'

There were no glum faces for Lucy Hatton and Serita Solomon, who both set three personal bests in one day to win silver and bronze respectively in the 60m hurdles.

Team captain Lawrence Clarke had been blessed 1,000 times by the Dalai Lama and received a good-luck letter from David Cameron.

But no amount of good wishes from friends in high places was enough to withstand the French trio of Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, Dimitri Bascou and Wilhem Belocian, who did a clean sweep of the medals in the 60m hurdles, leaving Clarke trailing in fifth.

Johnson-Thompson continued her dazzling pentathlon form as she cleared 1.95m in the high jump

Fellow British pentathlete Morgan Lake looks on despondently after crashing out at 1.95m

Johnson-Thompson relinquished her lead in the pentathlon despite a season's best of 12.32m

France's Pascal Martinot-Lagarde pipped Great Britain's Lawrence Clarke to win their 60m hurdles heat

Britain's team captain (right) to sneak into the final of the event qaulifying in the semi-finals in 7.66sec

Karol Konieczny (front) crashed out of the men's 800m after colliding with Austria's Andreas Rapatz

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-2982401/Katarina-Johnson-Thompson-sets-60m-hurdles-personal-best-pentathlon-European-Indoor-Championships.html#ixzz3TvkD669E
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Katarina Johnson-Thompson signs up for Great City Games Manchester

Katarina Johnson-Thompson is British athletics' latest golden girl
22-year-old star won pentathlon gold at European Indoor Championships
'KJT' has now signed up to compete on home soil in Manchester in May

PUBLISHED: 16:47, 9 March 2015 | UPDATED: 17:06, 9 March 2015

Katarina Johnson-Thompson will compete in the 200 metres hurdles and long jump at the Great City Games Manchester in May.

The 22-year-old, who broke Jessica Ennis-Hill's British pentathlon record to land gold at the European Indoor Championships in Prague last week, will compete in the city-centre street athletics event for the first time on May 9.

'I've seen the events on television before and love the idea of competing so close to the public. I can't wait to experience it first-hand for the first time,' she said.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson won gold in the pentathlon at the European Indoor Championships last week

Johnson-Thompson, running in the 60m hurdles in Prague, will run the 200m hurdles in Manchester in May

Britain's new golden girl will also compete in the long jump at the Great CityGames Manchester

Monday, 4 March 2013

Great Britain scooped both 4 x 400-metre titles at the European Indoor Championships in Gothenburg

GB men disqualified and then REINSTATED as 400m relay winners... and Shakes-Drayton brings baton home for women

By LAURA WILLIAMSON

PUBLISHED: 18:08, 3 March 2013 | UPDATED: 21:02, 3 March 2013

You wait six years for a relay gold medal and then two come along at once.

Great Britain scooped both 4 x 400-metre titles at the European Indoor Championships in Gothenburg yesterday as the team signed off a successful three days of competition in dramatic fashion.

Perri Shakes-Drayton won her second gold medal of the day, following her victory in the individual event, as she anchored Britain’s women to glory, and then the men’s team crossed the line first — only to be disqualified and then reinstated.

Champions: Great Britain's Richard Strachan celebrates crossing the line first in the men's relay

Star: Shakes-Drayton rounded off a great championships winning her second gold

Michael Bingham, Richard Buck, Nigel Levine, who ran a sensational 45.8sec third leg, and Richard Strachan were halfway round their lap of honour when officials ruled Buck had committed an infringement at the start of his leg.

The 26-year-old stepped off the track after being barged by Poland’s Rafal Omelko on the first bend, but an appeal saw Great Britain reinstated with the gold and the Polish team disqualified instead.

Britain have an abysmal record in the 4 x 100m relay outdoors — they have failed to get the baton round four times in the last five Olympic Games — and have not won a European indoor relay gold since 2007, so these two titles were particularly satisfying.

Bingham, 26, said: ‘I don’t ever want to win or lose because of people really not being sportsmanlike. It was a blatant push and it was only one step. Richard tried to stay on the track. Anyone could see we won.’

Last stretch: Nigel Levine passes on the baton to Strachan for the final leg

Britain’s relay double took their tally to eight medals — four of them gold — and to second in the medals table behind Russia. ‘It was great,’ said UK Athletics head coach Peter Eriksson after his first championship since taking over from Charles van Commenee. ‘We said we were going to do better and we did. We won one more gold medal than last time (in Paris in 2011) and we have more to come.

‘Jess Ennis wasn’t here and Mo Farah wasn’t here, so we’re missing athletes, but these guys will now get the taste for doing (even) better. Perri was absolutely fantastic and we’ve not seen the best of her yet.’

Shakes-Drayton was the star of yesterday, winning individual gold in 50.85sec — the fastest time in the world this year — ahead of Eilidh Child, who set a new Scottish record of 51.45sec to claim silver. Shana Cox faded to sixth in 53.15sec, but the trio, accompanied by Christine Ohuruogu, returned to win relay gold.

Gold: Richard Buck alongside Michael Bingham, Richard Stracham and Nigel Levine (left to right)

At 5ft 8in, Shakes-Drayton, 24, should not be suited to the tighter bends indoors, but she looked so strong and fluid that her performance posed questions about whether she should switch from the hurdles and concentrate on the 400m flat.

Her victories, however, only went part of the way to easing the pain of missing out on last year’s Olympic final. ‘I still want to achieve over the 400m hurdles,’ she said. ‘I haven’t fulfilled my full potential, so I’m still a 400m hurdler.

‘Every disappointment makes you stronger. I think you need a setback to come back stronger and I think I’ve proved that.’

Champions: The men's quartet pose with their gold medals in Gothenburg

Levine, 23, was also a double medallist, winning relay gold and a silver in the individual 400m, in which Bingham and Strachan finished fifth and sixth respectively.

Mukhtar Mohammed won bronze in a feisty men’s 800m final, but there was disappointment for team captain and defending champion Jenny Meadows in the women’s equivalent. The 31-year-old blamed a ‘tactical error’ on the final back straight after finishing fourth in only her fourth race back after 17 months without a competitive race owing to an achilles injury.

On Saturday, Holly Bleasdale won a jump-off against Anna Rogowska from Russia to secure gold in the pole vault, Olympic bronze medallist Robbie Grabarz finished sixth in the high jump and James Dasaolu won silver in the men’s 60m.

Final leg: Britain's Christine Churuogu passes the baton to Shakes-Drayton

Champions: Eilidh Child, Perri Shakes-Drayton Shana Cox, and Christine Ohuruogu (left to right)

Golden girls: The 4x400m winning women's quartet

GREAT BRITAIN'S MEDALLISTS IN GOTHENBURG

Great Britain finished second in the medal table at the European Indoor Championships in Gothenburg after winning eight medals, including four golds. Here, Press Association Sport looks at how they were won.

GOLD

Bleasdale, women's pole vault: Twenty-one-year-old Bleasdale took the title following a dramatic jump-off with Poland's Anna Rogowska after rejecting the chance to share the gold. Her clearance, for the second time, of 4.67 metres secured victory.

Shakes-Drayton, women's 400m: The Londoner was a class apart throughout all three rounds, winning the final convincingly in a world-leading 50.85 seconds.

Women's 4x400m relay: The team of Eilidh Child, Shana Cox, Christine Ohuruogu and Shakes-Drayton led from the first leg to win in a new championship record.

Men's 4x400m relay: The quartet of Michael Bingham, Richard Buck, Nigel Levine and Richard Strachan came home over a second ahead of Russia and, after a brief disqualification, were reinstated as champions.

SILVER

Dasaolu, men's 60m: Dasaolu won his first senior British medal with a 6.48secs run, coming agonisingly close to gold with winner Jimmy Vicaut of France given the same time.

Child, women's 400m: Child made it a British one-two in the 400m, tracking Shakes-Drayton all the way round to come home second in a personal best 51.45s.

Levine, men's 400m: The Linford Christie-coached tangled with Russia's Pavel Trenikhin on the final bend, but recovered to finish second in 46.21.

BRONZE

Mohammed, men's 800m: The 22-year-old was twice barged into by Anis Ananenka of Belarus, the second time as the pair battled to get across the line, with Mohammed just nicking third by 0.01.

More...

Sweet victory as Brit Holly Bleasdale grabs vault-off gold

Now get me cheesecake! Sweet victory as Brit Bleasdale grabs vault-off gold

By MARTHA KELNER

PUBLISHED: 22:46, 2 March 2013 | UPDATED: 22:46, 2 March 2013

Holly Bleasdale grabbed gold in a dramatic ‘vault-off’ at the European Indoor Championships — then celebrated her first major title by tucking into cheesecake.

The 21-year-old was given the option of sharing gold with Polish rival Anna Rogowska or competing in pole vaulting’s equivalent of a penalty shoot-out.

She opted for the latter and held her nerve to clear 4.67 metres and become Great Britain’s first European pole vault champion just four years after taking up the event at a taster session.

Golden girl: Holly Bleasdale celebrates winning the pole vault in Sweden

‘Instead of sharing the gold, I thought why not have it to myself,’ said Bleasdale. ‘I wanted to carry on jumping. I thought why not take the risk.’

Asked how she would mark the win, she added: ‘My favourite pudding is cheesecake so I think I’m going to find one and eat it all!’

It had been a fraught week for Bleasdale. On Friday, she required a visit from the doctor after spraying some perfume in her eyes. With renewed clarity after an eye bath she came through qualification.

In the final, she again demonstrated her composure by remaining calm, despite rattling the bar on her second attempt at 4.67m, when failure would have spelt her exit from the event.

Done it! Bleasdale realises she has clinched gold as she completes her jump

‘I was fourth at that point and it was hard to stay positive, but, thankfully, I did,’ she added. ‘I gave it a clatter with my belly but thank God it stayed up.’

Bleasdale shared the credit for her victory with Dan Pfaff, the American super coach whom she teamed up with after finishing sixth at the Olympics last August. Under his tutelage she has altered her run-up and uses longer poles. The alterations have paid dividends this season and seen her soar to a world leading height of 4.77m.

Bleasdale’s long-time mentor and team captain Jenny Meadows embraced her on the track at the Scandinavium Arena and says the prodigous talent has designs on becoming the world’s greatest.

‘I’m sharing a room with Holly and she came here expecting to become champion,’ said Meadows. ‘She’s a phenomenal talent. She thinks she can jump 5.20m in her career and I do, too!’

Up in the air: Bleasdale came through a vault-off to win the European title

That would put her well clear of Yelena Isinbayeva, the Russian multiple champion who won at both the Athens and Beijing Olympics and holds the outdoor (5.06m) and indoor (5.01m) world records.

James Dasaolu had to settle for 60m silver in a photo-finish, throwing himself over the line in the same 6.48sec as the winner, France’s Jimmy Vicaut.

Those were the first two GB medals at a Championships where head coach Peter Eriksson wants to better the nine-medal tally of Paris two years ago. But Olympic high jump bronze medallist Robbie Grabarz was only sixth.

Perri Shakes-Drayton leads GB one-two as she wins 400m gold ahead of team-mate Child

Shakes-Drayton leads GB one-two as she wins 400m gold ahead of team-mate Child

By LAURA WILLIAMSON

PUBLISHED: 10:50, 3 March 2013 | UPDATED: 12:34, 3 March 2013

Perri Shakes-Drayton won 400-metre European indoor gold in Gothenburg this morning with a scintillating personal best of 50.85 seconds - the fastest time in the world this year.

The 400m hurdles specialist, 24, led at the bell and took gold in emphatic fashion, with fellow Brit and hurdler Eilidh Child setting a new Scottish record of 51.45 secs to win silver. Shana Cox, 28, finished sixth in 53.15 seconds.

Shakes-Drayton said: 'I’m really happy with that. Everyone had expectations of me getting gold and in my heart of hearts I wanted gold. To be able to deliver and run a world lead – I didn’t expect that. I’m going to take that, it gives me confidence and hopefully I can transfer it over the hurdles.

At teh double: Perri Shakes-Drayton and Eilidh Child show off their medals

In a league of her own: Perri Shakes-Drayton celebrates winning the 400m

'I still want to achieve over the 400m hurdles and I haven’t fulfilled my potential so to me I’m still a 400m hurdler and I think that gave me an advantage because I’m used to running over ten hurdles in a 400m so I’m a lot stronger.'

Child said: 'I’m over the moon, I knew it would be hard but I was lucky to get a good lane draw after yesterday’s qualification.

Race to the line: Shakes-Drayton lead fellow Brit Edith Child in the 400m final

Crossing the line: Shakes-Drayton wins the 400m final ahead of Eilidh Child in second

'I knew everybody would be out for me because I was out in lane six so I thought I would just go out like a bullet and hopefully get that break.

'Once I saw Perri ahead of me, I just thought "sit on her shoulder and try and work with her the whole way round". I’m delighted that I got a medal.'

KATCHING MY I

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Monday, 9 March 2015