2023 UK Athletics Indoor Championships Day 1: Where is everyone?
James Davis reports from the first day of the 2023 UK Athletics Indoor Championships at the National Indoor Arena, Birmingham.
Great Britain and Northern Ireland won 12 medals at the 2021 European Athletics Indoor Championships, more than any other nation. Whilst it’s possible that a strong domestic team could replicate the feat at this year’s championships, to be held in Istanbul, it’s also plausible that the majority of them would not have been at these championships.
Many of domestic athletics’ biggest names were absent from Birmingham, leading the competition to feel more like a trials event than a championships, with athletes almost certain of selection failing to show up, and those still unsure of their participation duking it out for a seat on the plane.
That said, there was plenty of action to digest, and it started with a bang.
Roughly eight seconds after the starter’s pistol had sounded for the first race of the 2023 UK Athletics Indoor Championships, Mehitabelle Angelo’s head hit the newly-laid track surface.
Unlike most indoor facilities, the temporary Birmingham track features roughly a foot’s elevation difference between the straight and its circular counterpart, necessitating a ramp between the two.
Finishing third in the opening heat of the women’s 60 metres, the Leeds City athlete clipped a spike on the aforementioned ramp, crashing to the ground.
Nia Wedderburn-Goodison suffered a similar fate in winning the next heat, and while the remaining women got through their races unscathed, Dewi Hammond and Confidence Lawson also took tumbles in the men’s races.
Despite leaving in a wheelchair, Angelo returned for a semi-finals round in which Daryll Neita comfortably qualified fastest in 7.17, and Alisha Rees ran her second 7.28 of the day to go second-fastest and agonisingly close to her Scottish indoor record of 7.27 set earlier this year.
Reece Prescod led the way in the men’s semi-finals, his comfortable 6.60 slightly ahead of 2022 silver medallist Andy Robertson with 6.62.
The first field event of the day to finish was the men’s pole vault, won by Charlie Myers. The Birtley AC athlete reclaimed the title he won in 2019, his first clearance of 5.05 enough for gold ahead of a three-way tie for silver. The event took only four heights to decide a winner, and was notably missing UK leader Harry Coppell, with third-ranked Adam Hague also a non-starter.
The first champion of the weekend at the British champs in Birmingham is vaulter Charlie Myers who regained the title he won in 2019 but the height of 5.05m is the lowest to win since 1982
— IanHodge8 (@ian_hodge8) February 18, 2023
Sam Khogali fell short of a title defence in the men’s long jump, finishing third, as Reynold Banigo matched his indoor personal best of 7.85 to secure both a UK lead and a UK title. Jacob Fincham-Dukes and Jake Burkey have unfortunately only competed in America so far this season, jumping 7.83 and 7.75 respectively, and the presence of either could have increased competition for the gold medal, as Banigo won by 32 centimetres from Jack Roach.
Banigo is due to compete at next week’s World Indoor Tour final in Birmingham, and is looking to improve after missing out on European qualification by six centimetres: “I need to keep on working on the little things and I know the bigger jumps are there. I’ll rest, recover and do a bit of training before the Grand Prix”
With only ten men racing, down from an already paltry start list of twelve, heats were held to cut just four men from the pack in the 800 metres. UK leader Guy Learmonth unsurprisingly qualified with very little drama in 1:48.69, with no other athletes ranked in the UK top ten in attendance.
In a race that lacked the star quality of Keely Hodgkinson, as well as many other recent major championship performers, Jenny Selman, Abigail Ives, and Issy Boffey won their 800 metre heats with little drama. Selman’s 2:03.96 was fastest, with Ives and Boffey both just outside 2:05, and the trio will likely occupy the podium spots after Sunday’s final.
7.17 won Daryll Neita the women’s 60 metres title, with Asha Philip’s 7.21 for second securing her spot in the European Championships. Neita embraced the challenge of three races in a day, a challenge she will also face in Istanbul.
She said: “It’s great to come here and get the win, to compete in three rounds today was fun. I came here to get the gold and run some decent times.”
Neita will need to run significantly faster to challenge Dina Asher-Smith in Birmingham next week, with the Blackheath and Bromley athlete in British record form, as the two go head-to-head over the distance for only the second time since 2016.
Reece Prescod took the men’s event in 6.54, ahead of Jeremiah Azu’s 6.57. Both will head to Istanbul, but with eight others also possessing the entry standard, selection for the third spot on the British team will be highly contested. Championships third-placer Eugene Amo-Dadzie could have a chance, his 6.61 in the final his fastest time during the qualification period.
He said: “God willing, selectors give me a spot on the team. I had fun today.
“I believe in what I’ve got – what God’s put inside me. By God’s grace I’m at the Europeans and I can showcase that talent a bit more.”
The women’s para 60 metres was won by Faye Olszowka in 8.18 from Commonwealth fourth-placer Ali Smith, who scored an 8.39 personal best just two-hundredths ahead of fellow T38 athlete Hetty Bartlett.
The men’s event was won by a jubilant Kevin Santos, who delivered a backflip both shortly after finishing and during his post-race interview with Iwan Thomas. His time of 7.02 was matched by Commonwealth silver medallist Zac Shaw in second, with a gold medallist from those Games, Emmanuel Oyinbo-Coker, in third with 7.10.
The women’s triple jump was settled on countback, as Lily Hulland leaped to 12.71 in the third round, with Mary Elcock achieving the same feat in the fourth. To break the tie, Elcock again jumped 12.71, snatching the title from Hulland’s grasp, her second-best jump only 12.60.
Southern champion and former long jumper Elcock was delighted to win at her first national indoor championships: “I have only been doing Triple Jump for a year so it’s been ‘jumping’ in the deep end.
“I came here, really wanting to execute what I have been focusing on in training and there is still a lot to work on, but definitely it was a great competition.”
A long-running women’s pole vault competition was settled by a jump-off, as intense competition between Sophie Cook of Halesowen and Jade Ive of Sutton and District saw Ive come out the victor.
Having both achieved 4.25 without any preceding failures, both Cook and Ive failed to clear 4.35 in regulation. Cook attempted the height first, coming down on the bar for an agonising failure, before Ive produced an emphatic clearance to win the gold medal.
Ive was elated after the event: “I feel over the moon, ecstatic, beyond words honestly. 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 today.”
Cindy Sember overcame a fast-starting Marli Jessop in the women’s 60 metre hurdles final, finishing in a season’s best 8.10, but is lacking the form that carried her to a European indoor silver medal two years ago. Despite being qualified for Istanbul, Sember seemed to be looking beyond the championships to the outdoor season.
She said: “It always feels great, I’m so happy to get the win. I’ve been struggling with injury a little bit. I’m finally back to health so it’s nice to get rhythm again preparing for outdoors.
“I need to get my rhythm back and work on my start, but once I do that I think I’ll be alright. We’ll see – I’m not 100% sure I’m going.”
David King led Andy Pozzi across the line in the men’s race over the barriers, 7.62 to 7.81, marking only the third time the City of Plymouth man has bettered Pozzi in 16 meetings. King will head to Istanbul, being in possession of the standard, but Pozzi will not, having been unable to show current form.
King is hoping his strong run of form will carry him through a challenging European Championships: “I just want to keep improving, get back in the 7.50s. The goal is the European Indoors – I want to get into the final.
“I made the final at Worlds last year with a coin toss name in the hat thing. I’d like to get into the final by right this year and then contend for a medal.”
Carys McAulay, Ama Pipi, and Laviai Nielsen all won their respective semi-finals to qualify for Sunday’s women’s 400 metre final, with Nielsen’s 52.99 the fastest time on the day by almost half a second.
European bronze medallist Alex Haydock-Wilson kept his powder dry in the third men’s 400 metres semi-final, easing to a 46.96 that was bettered by three athletes. Lewis Davey and Haydock-Wilson’s European Championships teammate last year, Joe Brier, won the other two heats to secure their progression to tomorrow’s final.
With just thirteen men on the men’s 1500 metre start list leading to a straight final on Sunday, two heats of the women’s 1500 metres were the final track event of the day.
With three athletes qualifying by place, Katie Snowden cruised to win the first heat in 4:20.74, with Ellie Baker doing the same in the second, clocking 4:23.82 to qualify entirely untroubled.
The second day of the championships promises further excitement, with finals in all circular track events, and the infield given over to field eventers as both high jumpers and shot putters make their first appearance of the championships.
Read more: Day 2 report
