Michelle Yalekhue made a fantastic start to her 2023 season when she struck gold at the North of England Indoor Athletics Championships at the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield on Saturday. Competing in the Under 20 Women’s Triple Jump she dominated from the start with an opening effort of 11.67m taking off behind the board followed by 11.94m in the second round. Her best jump came in round three where she struck the take off board sweetly and got out to 12.15m, an indoor personal best. The effort sealed her victory with the silver medal going to Sophie Hampson (Liverpool Harriers) with a best jump of 11.44m while in bronze was Charlotte Earl (Morpeth Harriers) on 11.32m.
Although it is early days Michelle’s winning distance propelled her to the top of the U.K. Under 20 Triple Jump rankings. She now looks forward to the England Athletics national championships on the 12th February, a competition that hopefully will push her even further when she will be up against four other entrants who have beaten the 12 metre mark outdoors last season.
There were five other AVEAC athletes in action at the championships. On Saturday Corey Tatum was very unlucky not to advance to the final of the Under 20 Men’s 400m. Finishing fourth in his heat he recorded a season’s best of 53.86 seconds, half a second off his PB. In the Men’s Under 20 Long Jump on Sunday morning, things did not click for George Reynolds and Ryan Rawlinson. Their best jumps of 6.09m and 6.08m were substantially down on their personal bests from last season and they finished in 6th and 7th positions. On another day both jumpers could have been battling for podium positions with distances of 6.63m, 6.50m and 6.45m taking the top three medals, well within the AVEAC’s duo’s capabilities.
In the Under 20 Women’s Long Jump, Nicole Bonser and Grace Young were separated by a centimetre in 8th and 9th positions with distances of 4.69m and 4.68m. Nicole also contested the 200m, finishing fourth in her heat in a season’s best of 28.36 seconds.
Solid start for Ella Rush at Clemson Invite Meeting, South Carolina – January 13-14
Ella Rush had a solid start to her first indoor season in America at the Clemson Invitation Meeting, South Carolina last Friday and Saturday. She took part in three individual events and the 4 x 400m Relay in preparation for her first indoor Pentathlon at the end of this month at Lubbock, Texas. The meeting at Clemson involved many of the Southern States Universities and Colleges and several world class athletes and USA internationals were in action.
In the Long Jump, Ella finished in 6th position out of a field of twenty four starters with a best distance of 6.04m. A measure of the standard of competition was that the event was won by Claire Bryant (Florida) one of the USA’s leading jumpers who recorded 6.59m while second place was filled by World Heptathlon bronze medalist Anna Hall (Team Adidas) on 6.53m.
Turning her attention to the 60m Hurdles Ella recorded a time of 8.77 seconds, one-tenth of a second behind her best ever when finishing fourth in her heat. In the Shot she threw a distance of 11.54m which is on par for this point in the indoor season and completed the two day meet with a leg in the 4 x 400m relay using that as preparation for the forthcoming 800m run in the Pentathlon.
Words and photos – Joe McColgan