Ella Rush completed her 2022 outdoor season with a fantastic sixth place finish in the Heptathlon at the World Under 20 Championships in Cali, Colombia. Competing last Wednesday and Thursday, the eighteen year old lined up with twenty three other competitors and ended the two day marathon bettering her previous best score by exactly one hundred points with a final tally of 5591.
She recorded PBs in the 100m Hurdles and 200m with times of 14:33 and 24:52, leapt 1.69m in the High Jump and threw the Shot 12.03m to leave her lying seventh on 3368 points at the end of day one.
The early morning session on day two saw her get out to 5.93m in the Long Jump which kept her in seventh place. A big improvement in the Javelin throwing 34.61m was another PB, adding valuable points to her overall score and keeping her on track for a good finish. Ella who always runs gritty 800m races in the final discipline, did not disappoint. She ran with conviction from the start, commanding the race to cross the line in first place in 2:19:43, leaving her sixth overall after the seven events.
In an interview with British Athletics TV after the competition she said:
“It’s been amazing, I’ve never been to a Championships like this, and I am so excited to have been part of it”
“I have come away with a PB score overall and three PBs in my other events as well and I am just really pleased. It makes you hungry, it makes you want to hit more points, get more personal bests and try to achieve more.”
The sixth place finish ended a fantastic year for Ella which saw her won the England Under 20 Indoor Long Jump and U.K. Indoor Senior Pentathlon titles. She now looks forward to spending four years at the University of Georgia where she will work with top American Jumps and Combined Events coach, James Thomas.
For our young athletes in the Club it is worth noting that Ella started competing for AVEAC in the Derbyshire Mini League. Her first competition was in May 2013 when she finished 9th in the 150m and 5th in the 600m. She has come along way since then!
Everyone at AVEAC wishes her well as she starts a new chapter in her athletics journey. Good luck Ella 🍀
Words – J. McColgan
Screenshots – World Athletics TV