British Indoor Championships 2024: A Dramatic Final Day
The final day of the British Championships didn’t disappoint with some unexpected winners, championships records and plenty of drama. This reaffirmed why track and field fans love championship competition.
Upset in the Men’s High Jump saw Tom Hewes beat defending champion William Grimsley to win gold. Many years ago, Hewes represented Team GB at the Under 20 European championships, since then he had pretty much dropped off the map. Having not even jumped the qualifying standard to compete this weekend, he was given the benefit of the doubt and was granted a discretionary place to “make up the numbers.”
As the bar was raised many of the athletes were knocked out. The competition went down to the wire with Hewes facing off against Grimsley. Hewes was in uncharted territory, having never jumped over 2.13m indoors, he cleared both 2.15m and 2.18m with ease for an outright personal best performance.
Hewes said: “I knew I had a big jump in me for the last couple of years, but I needed everything to come together on the day.
“I work on adrenaline a lot and performing in front of a huge crowd really helped with that today.”
In the Men’s 3000m reigning champion James West came through to snag gold again, only weeks after securing a European Championship qualifying time in the 5000m in Boston. Looking forward to the rest of the season he aims to clock the Olympic qualifying mark for Paris this summer.
He said: “To get the win again is always great to back up my success but there’s some big goals ahead, like trying to make Olympics. So, it’s back to work on Monday.”
Elsewhere, in the Women’s 3000m, Laura Muir dominated the event to secure her sixth British indoor title and her 10th national championship medal. A huge success for her, setting her up well for an unforgettable home championship at the World Athletics Indoor Champions: Glasgow ’24.
In the Women’s 1500m Georgia Bell took the crown after battling with Revée Walcott-Nolan, who both held the qualifying standard for World Indoors in Glasgow. Georgia, who originally quit running to take up a 9-5 job, has taken the track by storm since returning. Not only is she a track fanatic but has a love for cycling too.
She said: “I took the lead early, which wasn’t the plan, but it worked out in the end so I’m happy.
“On the bike you’re able to get out for hours and hours, which I never could do with running. It’s allowed me to stay injury free whilst getting in some hard training.”
One of the most dramatic races of the day was the Men’s 1500m where all top three men crossed the line within seconds of each other. Calum Elson and Adam Fogg were firm favourites to take the title after already earning World Indoor qualifying times. However, when it came down to a kick down in the final 100m it was Piers Copeland who clinched the crown.
Elson said: “It’s kind of bittersweet but if you had told me six months ago that I’d be walking away with a silver medal I’d be absolutely buzzing.
“I’ve been beaten by Piers who’s a quality guy, and I just got one over on Adam who’s in incredible shape.”
Copeland who was previous champion in 2022, proved to be back in shape after a rough couple of years.
He said: “I’ve had a rough two years since the last one [last gold medal] and everything went downhill since, it’s a reminder that I’ve still got it.
“The goal is to now focus on running a 1500m personal best and put myself in the best position for the outdoor championships in June.”
Fogg said: “I gave it my all, I couldn’t have done anything more.”
To cap the dramatic day off, the in form Jemma Reekie had the crowd on their feet as she peeled away from the field to secure gold in a new championship record of 1:58.24minutes.
She said: “The last few words my coach said to me before I went out there was ‘have fun,’ and that’s what I did.
“I knew I was the favourite but I didn’t take it for granted, so many of those girls are very good athletes. Erin [Wallace] was so brave today to go out there and run that time, it always great to put on a good show.
“I used to be her training partner so it’s always great to see her perform well.
“I’m so excited to be lining up in Glasgow in a couple of weeks. I love that championship feeling, the home crowd was so great in London in the summer so I’m really excited for the crowd in Glasgow.”
