Sprint talent stars alongside shot putters Sophie McKinna and Scott Lincoln at the World Indoor Tour meeting in Manchester
Amy Hunt reminds us why she is one of the most exciting talents in British athletics. After barely racing last year due to injuries, she started 2022 in style, running a PB of 7.21, around the women’s 60m, at the World Indoor Tour event at the Manchester Regional Arena on Saturday (22 January). to win confidently.
“I’ve had three races and three PBs this month, which is great,” she said. “Our goals this year weren’t really time or results oriented, but more process oriented. Our whole goal for this season is to rebuild my confidence and get me back into competitive racing alongside really fast girls. Running fast times is a crazy bonus too.”
Hunt initially made a brilliant start in the 60m final, although officials were forced to recall the runners due to a false start by Desiree Henry. When the race started for the second time, Hunt’s start wasn’t quite as explosive, but she pulled away impressively from second-place finisher Eve Wright (7.44) and 17-year-old Nia Wedderburn-Goodison (7.45).
In In 2019, Hunt won the European U20 200m title and set U18 world records and UK U20 world distance records. Then, in 2020, she won the UK indoor 60m title in 7.39 before later making her mark in a mostly 100m summer that included her first experience in the Diamond League.
But in February last year, she suffered a thigh tear that later tore again. She also suffered from an ankle infection and was swamped with studying at Cambridge University.
“I’ve been doing too much academic work and I probably haven’t listened to my body and have developed bad habits, such as “There were a lot of things to sort out and with the help of a great team I managed to do it.”
“My body and mental health was wrecked and I just needed to go back and spend some time with my family” @AmyHunt02 talks to @Jason_AW about a difficult 2021 after riding a 60m PB in Manchester 🎙#WorldIndoorTour pic. twitter.com/lnkzldwg01
— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) January 22, 2022
This BoXX United sponsored meeting, organized by Bryggen Sports with support from British Athletics, was the first World Indoor Tour meeting of the year and a Silver status event. This meant it was the UK’s best international indoor meeting in a couple of years and the fields were truly international with participants from around 40 nations.
Sophie McKinnaJames Rhodes
The shot put competitions were of a particularly high quality, with Sophie McKinna winning an exciting women’s tournament early in the program with a performance of 18.53m in the final.
McKinna beat Chase Ealey of the United States by four inches in a thrilling finale of the competition. However, there were no awkward feelings between the two as Ealey stays with McKinna’s family when she is in Europe. Meanwhile, Fanny Roos from Sweden threw a close third with 18.48 m.
“I was happy to win but it was a bit frustrating as I’m in really good shape and ended up missing the ‘big shot’,” said McKinna, who missed her PB by an inch but still set the qualifying standard for to beat the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade in March. “But I’m looking forward to the next one. That gives me a bit of a fire in my stomach.”
McKinna has clearly started 2022 in top form and said: “For me this year it’s not about throwing 18.50 m. I want to take the next step and throw over 19m. Hopefully we’ll see it in the next competitions.”
Venissa Head has held the British record of 19.06 m since 1984. “I’ve got my eye on him,” McKinna said. “And I had my eye on it today, but unfortunately it didn’t happen.”
Scott LincolnJames Rhodes
Scott Lincoln is another shot putter in good form. The British No.1 is still working part-time and was busy at a construction site 24 hours before this competition, but he made easy work of the competition throwing 20.73m – a huge indoor PB and fourth-best throw of all time indoors by a British athlete.
Andrei Toader of Romania was second with 20.29m and Marcus Thomsen of Norway third with 20.25m.
Osian Perrin broke his own British indoor 3000m record by four seconds when he finished fourth in 7:54.41 in a race won by Mohamad Al Garni of Qatar in 7:52.68.
Osian Perrin (47) (James Rhodes)
Perrin has been in great form on the track so far this year and one of his next goals is to try to get close to 3:40 in the 1500m. Remarkably, he doesn’t run very many miles either, being a triathlete and getting much of his aerobic fitness from swimming five times a week.
Ciara Mageean won a terrific women’s 3000m after a last-minute fight against longtime and rogue leader Luiza Gega of Albania. Mageean, who runs for Ireland but lives near Manchester as part of Team New Balance, clocked a time of 8:47.23 and passed Gega by three tenths of a second as she overtook her in the final meters.
To add to the drama, Sarah Healy was in contention for a top three position but stopped with one lap to go. In the melee, Verity Ockenden was third in 8:51.17, Jenny Nesbitt fourth in 8:54.99 and former European champion Meraf Bahta of Sweden fifth in 8:56.51 when seven runners paused nine minutes.
“I really wanted an Irish record but I didn’t get it today,” Mageean said, referring to Mary Cullen’s national best of 8:43.74. “But it’s always hard to tell what form you’re in at the first race of the season.”
Mageean added: “I train here and Vicente (Modahl, the organizer of the meeting) did a fantastic job.”
Issey Boffey looked strong in her first race of the year, winning the women’s 800m with a world lead of 2:03.11. The University of Birmingham biomedical student followed pacemaker Seren Bundy-Davies to 500m and then hit the tip to fend off Spain’s Lorena Martin and Benin’s Noelie Yarigo.
Issy BoffeyJames Rhodes
As a winner of the U20 and U23 European Championships, it is logical for Boffey to now set her sights on the European Senior Championships this summer, but she said: “Hopefully yes, but there is a lot to do this summer so I’m working hard to forming those teams and making my mark as a GB senior.”
Ed Faulds has just turned 19 but is looking to make his mark in the 400m at the UK Indoor Championships next month. Here he won his race in style in 46.84 ahead of Halvard Ingvaldsen of Norway who clocked 47.43.
Ed FauldsJames Rhodes
Faulds’ time was the third-best indoor time ever by a British junior and he looks like a real talent after his European U20 gold medal in Tallinn last summer. “For a season opener I’m happy and I hope that shows that European juniors were no fluke!” said the Rugby & Northampton athlete.
Jeremiah Azu (6.60) and Adam Thomas (6.64) won the men’s 60m, but the final was riddled with false starts and disqualifications (Azu, Oliver Bromby and Tommy Ramdhan), with veteran Andy Robertson in the Keeping his nerve on starting blocks before blasting away to win in 6.60 from Thomas’ 6.62 – both times are qualifiers for the World Indoor Championships – while Jona Efoloko was third in 6.65. The quality of the field was so good, former European 100m champion James Dasaolu was fifth in 6.80.
Incidentally, a total of 15 athletes qualified for the World Indoors in Manchester. Additionally, an estimated 42 indoor PBs were achieved, which bodes well as the meeting aims to advance from a World Indoor Tour Silver meeting to Gold in the future.
Andy Robertson (8) beats Oliver Bromby (James Rhodes)
Robertson, 31, said: “We have quite delicate blocks these days so any move and you can give away a false start, but a lot depends on discipline and focus and you have to stay calm in the blocks.
“I know people want to get out in the first 10 meters, but there’s no point risking a false start. And I could just focus on myself and not let anything distract me.”
Elsewhere, Loac Gasch of Switzerland won the men’s high jump with 2.24m, Lucy Hadaway jumped 6.34m and beat Olympic finalist Abigail Irozuru by three centimetres, Claudia Bobocea of Romania won the women’s 1500m in a world lead of 4:06.24 and Piers Copeland won the men’s 1500m in 3:42.14.
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