A great week of top-class athletics got off to a great start with a fantastic line-up of international stars lining up to take part in this, the latest edition of the UK Athletics Indoor Championships took place at the Utilita Arena, in Birmingham.
Reece Prescod and Daryll Neita proved to be two of the headline acts on day one of a weekend of great sporting and moth-watering action as the sprint king and queen claimed gold medals in their respective 60m finals - Prescod beat Jeremiah Azu and Eugene Amo-Dadzie with a time of 6.54, whilst Neita crossed the line in 7.17 seconds, ahead of Asha Philip and Alisha Rees.
“I ran a personal best this year and came out a national champion,” Prescord said, whilst Neita commented: “Things are heading in the right direction for me. I’ve worked hard this winter coming into the indoor season”.
“I came here to get the gold and run some decent times, which I think I did that today”. Both Neita and Prescod can now look forward to next month's European Indoor Championships in Istanbul. Elsewhere, in the women's triple jump, Mary Elcock claimed gold on countback after two athletes were tied with a best effort of 12.71, a personal best for Elcock, who has only been competing in triple jump for a year.
Reynold Banigo equalled his indoor personal best of 7.85m to take his first British indoor long jump title and Faye Olszowka improved on her silver from 2022 in the women's 60m para final, finishing with a season's best time of 8.18 seconds to win gold, while Kevin Santos won the men's event with a personal best of 7.02.
Charlie Myers would triumph, winning gold in the men's pole vault with a best jump of 5.05m, while Jade Ive's 4.35m was enough to claim the title in the women's event. “I feel over the moon, ecstatic, beyond words honestly”, Ive said. “It’s been a long time coming and just one of these long journeys but I’m just so glad I pulled it out of the bag”.
David King claimed his third British indoor title in the 60m hurdles, finishing in 7.62, 0.19 seconds ahead of 2018 world indoor champion Andrew Pozzi. Meanwhile, during what was an incident-packed Saturday, Cindy Sember became a double British 60m indoor hurdles champion, finishing in 8.10 seconds, ahead of Marli Jessop and Alicia Barrett.
Day 2 promising to be just as thrilling – and just as ‘winning’!