Town trio win gold at British championships
LOUGHBOROUGH athletes Holly Bradshaw, Morgan Lake and Meghan Beesley starred at the Müller British Athletics Championships in Birmingham to confirm their places in the GB squad for the IAAF World Championships next month in Doha.
In the women’s pole vault, Bradshaw set a new championship record of 4.73m to win a record seventh British outdoor title.
Bradshaw seemed very positive regarding her performance, which she achieved despite her lack of competitive experience since the Müller Anniversary Games:
“It’s my first competition on full approach since the London Diamond League and it’s great to come here and jump a season’s best. I feel really good and really confident and I still have two more competitions to keep edging to that 4.80m mark and I’m really pleased with another British title.
“To secure my spot for Doha and come out healthy, I can’t be in a better place. An event like this is great to come to. There’s so much to learn from this competition and things to put right. It is good that things happened here rather than in Doha, so I have time to correct them.”
Commonwealth Games silver medallist Morgan Lake wowed the stadium by rising to a 1.94m season’s best to beat heptathlon star Katarina Johnson-Thompson who jumped 1.90m for silver.
Lake was clearly relieved to see her season coming together, saying: “I’m really happy with the win today and it’s what I came out for. It’s good to secure my place in Doha. I had a bit of a rough season – I feel as if I’m finally getting to where I need to be.”
And Meghan Beesley took gold in the women’s 400m hurdles in 55.81 ahead of Jess Turner in 56.06 to safely book their seats on the plane to Doha, already having the qualifying standard.
Also on the podium was Cameron Fillery in the men’s 110m hurdles final, separated by thousandths of a second behind David King, after both clocking 13.78 into a strong headwind.
The Great Britain & Northern Ireland team for the world championships will be announced on September 3.