The best was saved until last in Birmingham yesterday as a pulsating Müller Indoor Grand Prix came to a record-breaking end.
The fans turned out in force to see this showpiece, with British athletes testing their fitness, preparing for next weekend’s return to the city and the UK Athletics Indoor Championships and also looking to secure World Indoor Championships qualifying standards. The full house at the Utilita Arena Birmingham roared virtually every step of Keely Hodgkinson’s 800m victory, as the Olympic silver medallist began her competitive year with a run of the highest quality in what was the final track event of the meeting.
Seeing off a top-class field, the 19-year-old stormed to a time 1:57.20 – not only a British indoor record but also the fastest indoor 800m performance by a woman in 20 years. If this is a measure of how she intends to go on in 2022, it will be a special year indeed for the woman who only celebrates her 20th birthday next month.
Her margin of victory was over two seconds, with Australian Catriona Bisset also clocking a national record (1:59.46) while Jamaican Natoye Goule, who had been the world leader going into this event, ran 1:59.85. Adelle Tracey clocked 2:01.52 for fifth, with Jenny Selman sixth in 2:01.57.
"I wrote down the aims for this year and one of them was a British indoor record,” Hodgkinson grinned.
“I was 100 per cent in shape for this record and I just wanted to go for it and there were some good girls in that race. I've never run in front of a British crowd this big and it was such a comfortable environment."
And, as expected, Jamaica’s double-100m and 200m sprint champion Elaine Thompson-Herah won the women’s 60m, in a time of 7.08 but there was a brilliant PB of 7.11 in second for Tokyo finalist Daryll Neita, while Amy Hunt was hampered by an injury on her way to seventh in 7.64.
"It's a good win and although I wanted to go under seven seconds I'm good,” Thompson-Herah said.
“It's part of my training process and I'm still thinking about the World Indoors. My speed hasn't come back yet but it's all about preparation."
"Last year was amazing and we want to be the most talked about women in the history in the sprints. I love it here in Birmingham and I've got so many amazing memories here."
Another British performance to really grab the attention was the European U20 indoor record-breaking 400m produced by Ed Faulds. The European U20 champion’s strong finish saw him surge through to clock 46.16 as he came home in third behind Kahmari Montgomery’s 45.72 and Liemarvin Bonevacia’s 46.08.
Faulds said afterwards: “I said in Manchester I will come back until I get it (the world indoor standard). I wasn't bothered about the win and never considered chasing the winning time. My error is chasing the winning time."
"This crowd is a bit of me. I love it here and I will be coming back again. There was more home success for the crowd to celebrate as local athlete Isabelle Boffey produced an excellent win in the women’s 1000m.
Jemma Reekie, the Olympic 800m fourth placer, was firmly at the head of affairs for much of the race but after some particularly sharp early pacing, the lactic kicked in and she was caught by the chasing pack.
Boffey, the European U23 800m champion, seized her chance to win in a PB of 2:38.25, just ahead of Pole Angelika Cichoka’s PB of 2:38.57. German Katharina Trost was third in 2:38.62, while Reekie finished sixth in 2:39.74.
Jessie Knight was the sole British athlete involved in the women’s 400m and finished fifth with a time of 52.35, with Jamaican Stephenie Ann McPherson taking victory in a PB of 51.39.
There had been much anticipation surrounding the men’s 1500m, with Peter Elliott’s British indoor record of 3:34.20 expected to come under threat. The 1990 mark survived, though, with the first Briton over the line being George Mills, who clocked a significant PB of 3:36.03 in fourth. Piers Copeland also clocked an indoor PB of 3:36.12 for fifth in a race won by Kenyan Abel Kipsang in 3:34.57.
In the women’s 1500m race, there were PBs and World Indoor Championships qualifying marks for Amy-Eloise Markovc and Erin Wallace of 4:08.68 and 4:08.90 in fourth and fifth place respectively.
In the men’s 800m, Elliot Giles was just denied victory by Collins Kipruto, the Kenyan clocking 1:45.39 to edge the Briton (1:45.42). Guy Learmonth was fourth in 1:46.46, a time which is also a World Indoors qualifier.
American world record-holder Grant Holloway’s domination of the 60m hurdles continued as he stormed to victory in 7.41, but there were encouraging performances from world indoor champion Andrew Pozzi, who ran a season’s best of 7.59 for second, while fellow Briton David King produced a PB of 7.63 in fifth. Multi-eventer Holly Mills was sixth with 8.24 in the women’s race, with Netherlands’ Zoe Sedney winning in 8.02.
Charlie Dobson produced the fastest 60m of his life as he ran 6.59 to finish fifth in the same time as sixth-placed Andrew Robertson. Adam Thomas was seventh in 6.61, just ahead of the 6.63 from Jeremiah Azu. 100m world champion Noah Lyles just edged fellow American Ronnie Baker for the win, both clocking 6.55.
Two all-British Para Mixed Ambulant sprints were incorporated into the programme, with Zac Shaw producing a British T12 60m record of 7.01 to beat T38 Paralympic champion Thomas Young, who improved his PB from less than 24 hours earlier to 7.03. T46 athlete Emmanuel Oyinbo-Coker was third in 7.22. T38 star Sophie Hahn dominated the women’s contest, winning in 8.11 from T20 athlete Faye Olszowka in 8.26 and a PB of 8.46 from Madeline Down.
The first field event of the day saw Laura Zialor produce a brilliant PB of 1.91m as she matched Olympic champion Mariya Lasitskene, with the pair tied for second. The event was won by Australian Eleanor Patterson with 1.97m, while Emily Borthwick was fifth in 1.84m.
Abigail Irozuru, Lorraine Ugen and Jazmin Sawyers finished fourth, fifth and sixth in the women’s long jump and they leapt 6.41m, 6.38m and 6.28m respectively. Sweden’s Khaddi Sagnia was out in front with 6.70m.
In the final event of the day, which saw Mondo Duplantis achieve a world-leading pole vault clearance of 6.05m and come incredibly closer to a world record of 6.19m. Elsewhere, Harry Coppell was seventh in 5.31m.