Kentish Express Ashford & District
Teenager excels in final
Ashford Athletic Club young star Kristian Samwell-Nash has won another national silver medal.
The 16-year old in only his second season competing indoors took the silver at the England Athletics Open Indoor Championships in Sheffield on Sunday.
He won his heat in style on the Saturday and was the fastest qualifier going into the under17 400m final on Sunday.
The final included the best sprinters in the country including the Scottish, Northern and Southern champions.
Samwell-Nash ran a strategic race, overtaking everyone on the penultimate bend but was beaten to the line by last season’s fastest sprinter in Europe.
He did, however, run an indoor PB of 50.29 a time good enough to have been close to the medals in the under-20 senior final.
He is now ranked as the
UK’s No.3 under-17 at 400m and hopes to consolidate his position during the outdoor season which starts in April. Samwell-Nash has already run one of the fastest under17 300m of all time indoors this winter, was a winner at the London Metaswitch Indoor Games in January and won the 400m silver medal at the recent Southern Indoor Championships.
He is now looking forward to finishing off his impressive winter season by attempting to regain his Kent Indoor 200m and 400m titles at the Kent Indoor Championships at Lee Valley Arena in London on March 16/17.