Sprint and Hurdles News, 17-18 June

19 June 2017

Cheltenham & County Harriers sprint hurdlers claim two medals at the England Athletics U20/U23 Championships in Bedford. Competing in her first year in the U23 age group Mollie Courtney won bronze in a closely contested 100m hurdles final in a time of 13.51s. Along the way she won her heat in a season’s best time of 13.44s. That time was significant as it was under the Commonwealth Games Nomination Standard for Northern Ireland for which Courtney is eligible to compete. Courtney, the 2017 NI & Ulster 100m hurdles champion, is the 10th athlete to achieve a NI standard for the 2018 Games to be held in Gold Coast, Austrailia.

In the U20 age group Sophie Yorke competed well through the 100m rounds to finish 5th in the final in a time of 11.99s. However she would have had in the back of her mind that she already had a qualification time for the European Junior Championships in the 100m hurdles. Winning her 100mH heat comfortably in a wind-assisted 13.55s Yorke then went on to claim silver in the final setting a new wind-legal PB of 13.47s. Being second over the line meant automatic selection for the European Juniors as the Bedford meeting acted as the trials for the Championships to be held in Grosseto, Italy in July.