by Stuart WeirThe Not Necessarily the Anniversary Games, aka London DL in exile, aka Gateshead revisited, aka Gateshead 2 was a fascinating event. Some big athletes pulled, Sifan Hassan, Katie Nageotte, but the performances in Gateshead seemed to help the athletes who were there. This piece, on the top 8 GB performances, written by Stuart Weir in the wee hours of the morning, prior to a little sleep, then a train home back to Oxford.
Thanks, Stuart.
Katerina Johnson-Thompson, Jake Wightman, Holly Bradshaw, Gateshead revisited presser, photo by British Athletics / Getty Images
Top 8 GB performances
Jodie Williams doubled in Gateshead (photo from Brit Trials) in 200m (22.60) and 400m (50.94 PB), photo by British Athletics / Getty Images
1 Jodie Williams
PR of 50.94 for second place in the 400m an hour after she took second place in the 200 – ahead of Blessing Okabare, Dez Bryant etc. See separate post.
Holly Bradshaw (photo, not Gateshead, but Manchester), photo by British Athletics / Getty Images
2 Holly Bradshaw
Second in the pole-vault with 4.71. She commented afterward: “I have been struggling the last couple of weeks off the back of that 4.90 with some technical elements. Because it is such a technical event you really need to be firing on all cylinders. Stockholm was a battle and Monaco was a bit of a battle. I needed this confidence boost and I needed some reps under the belt to help me feel my jump. I can now go and train with confidence for the next couple of weeks and really get those jumps down.”
CJ Ujah, (not Gateshead, but Manchester), photo by British Athletics / Getty Images
3 CJ Ujah
Second in the 100m in 10.10, finishing ahead of Andre de Grasse, Fred Kerley and Zharnel Hughes. He said: “I’ve run consistently through the Diamond Leagues (10.10). It’s about being healthy and I’m happy in terms of how it was competitive, but I definitely need to go a lot faster to compete with what Trayvon did out there today. I’ll get it right through the rounds at the Olympics”.
Andrew Pozzi, photo by British Athletics / Getty Images
4 Andrew Pozzi
Third in 110m hurdles in 13.45
Cindy Sember, 100m hurdles win in Gateshead revisited (i know), photo by British Athletics / Getty Images
5 Cindy Sember
Winner in 12.69 “Things feel like they are coming together nicely. This was definitely a race to get my confidence up and get me excited for Tokyo and I definitely did that”.
6 Katie Snowden
Second in the Millicent Fawcett Mile in 4:28.04: “. I just wanted to position myself well in what was a pretty strong field. Looking at Tokyo in a few weeks it will be really important to nagivate my way through the rounds and pace myself well and I think this was a great practice for that.
Katerina Johnson-Thompson, photo by British Athletics / Getty Images
7 Katerina Johnson-Thompson
Seventh in the long jump, 6.10m in only her third competition of the year after injury, “That proves that I’m 100% fit. I only got one no jump. It’s proved I’ve made big strides and that I can come out and do the full five jumps off my full approach and hopefully over the coming weeks I can work on my technique a bit more and the distance will come in Tokyo I’m sure”.
Jess Knight, with a PB at 400m hurdles in final meet prior to Tokyo, “we are back on!”, photo by British Athletics / Getty Images
8 Jessie Knight
Fourth in the 400H. She tweeted: “We back on track. 54.69 and a PB”
