England U20 Championships inc World U20 Trials

3 of our athletes travelled to a scorching buy windy Bedford, to compete amongst the best athletes in the country.

Competing on Friday was Lauren, who went in the U20 800m heats. Going up against some of the best U20's in Europe, Lauren went with the early pace as she aimed to qualify for final. The race became stretched on lap 2 as the pace picked up, with Lauren not quite being able to keep with the leading group, but she should be proud of her committed race strategy.

Luke Pichler had high hopes going into the U20 Mens decathlon, with a gruelling schedule which include a very late start/finish on the Friday. He started superbly with a 100m win, however absolute disaster struck in the long jump with 3 fouls, resulting in no points in what should have been his highest scoring event. This effectively ended Lukes medal hopes - but he then attempted a seemingly impossible recovery. The shot put was solid, but things got back on tack with a massive 1.88m high jump (1s), and he finished day 1 with a fighting 400m time of 51.6s. Day 2 starts with a storming sub-15s win in the 110m hurdles, and then came a genuine highlight with a new PB in the discus, with 2of his attempts well over 35m. The gap was closing, albeit slowly, to the athletes in front after the pole vault where he cleared 3.90m before the increasing winds causing a sensible retirement.  The javelin was Lukes last chance to make further inroads towards the medals, but he was not able to throw to his best, leaving just a bit too much to do in the 1500m. Nonetheless, he went with the early pace in an attempt to force the issue and make up the massive 55 second points gap to bronze, but it was just a step to far. Luke finished the decathlon in 4th place, but knows it would have been at least silver if not for his long jump disaster. Nonetheless, a proud performance!

Senna opened her 400m Hurdles campaign on Saturday with 2nd place in her heat, as she got the chance to get a feel for the new Bedford track surface. Her finishing position in her heat ensured she would get one of the best lanes for sunday's final, and indeed she had lane 4 with all of her main competition in sight outside of her. Senna produced a sensational first part of the race, getting herself right in the mix. Coming into the home straight, she was right on the heels of the athletes in 2nd and 3rd, and looked as though she was going to battle her way to a medal. However, a slight clip of the last hurdle just cost her the tiniest amount, and she finished just 0.1s behind 3rd place. Nontheless, 4th and a massive PB of 62.60s saw Senna absolutely over the moon.