Pole Vaulters shine in a wet and blustery
Manchester
Report by Tom Gayle
"Give me good conditions and I’ll jump
a lot higher" was the cry from Steven Lewis following his slight
embarrassment after winning last weekends National Junior title with ‘only’
4.80m. Well if that is the case, be prepared for fire works come the much
more suitable competition climes of Grossetto Italy for the World Juniors as
Lewis added a further 5cm to his previous best in conditions hardly
conductive to good pole vaulting.
The meet, which saw the cream of British
Junior talent, taking on Australia’s equivalent witnessed Lewis show his
true class as he took the competition with a vault of 5.20m, sending him to
equal 5th on the UK all time list for this age group.
Lewis, who made history last year by becoming
the first British athlete to win a international medal when placing third at
last years World Youth Championship, performance in Manchester suggests
given the right conditions he is definitely capable of scaling the heights
required for him to not just simply make up the numbers in Italy.
As well as athletes representing Great
Britain and Australia the event also staged a last ditch opportunity for any
other British juniors to stake a late claim for the World Junior team,
amongst those were Alex Williams and Nicolas Gayle.
Williams, who is still an U17 also excelled
in the pole vault given the difficult conditions. With a clearance of 4.60m
he rose to equal 13th on the UK all time list, and in doing so
took the scalp of Lewis’s GB team mate Tom McDowell.
The same format was repeated by Nicolas Gayle
in the hurdles. A week after the selectors controversy selected the bronze
medallist Robert Henry for the second spot in the GB team to join winner
Jordan Fleary, Gayle saw the race as an opportunity to prove a point. He
did, by being the second British athlete home, but this time it was Henry
who headed him as Gayle took the scalp of Fleary.
U20 Men
110m hurdles (-.)
4. Nicolas Gayle (guest) 14.81
Pole Vault
1. Steven Lewis (Great Britain) 5.20
4. Alex Williams U17 (guest) 4.60
Full results from the meeting can be found at
http://www.gbrathletics.com/high.htm
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