My, it’s some vault by pole star Charlie
ATHLETICS
NORTHUMBRIA University’s Charlie Myers has set his sights on making this summer’s European Championships in Berlin after a brilliant start to the indoor athletics season.
The fast-improving student has targeted 2018 as the year when he makes his mark on senior pole vaulting.
Myers leapt to within five centimetres of the 2018 European Championship qualifying standard last weekend with one of the biggest wins of his career.
The Sport and Exercise Science student stunned his rivals at Vault Cardiff 2018 as he stretched to an incredible 5m 50cms in the Welsh capital.
Myers’ mark puts him 16th on the all-time UK vaulting list.
The Teessider is aiming to meet the Euro qualifying standard when he takes on the cream of UK vaulting at the 2018 British Indoor Championships next month.
Northumbria’s head of strength and conditioning Nick Ridgeon said: “Charlie is improving all the time and his Vault Cardiff victory lays down a marker for the indoor season.
“He is a committed and talented athlete and I am confident he will continue to get better in 2018.
“Charlie is more than capable of making the cut for Berlin and was very unlucky to miss out on Commonwealth Games selection.
“As an athlete in his early 20s he has plenty of time to keep on improving. In vaulting terms he is still a kid and he has all of the attributes to go on and have a long and successful athletics career.”
Myers’ eye-catching win followed hot on the heels of his secondplaced finish in the senior competition at the Northern Athletics Indoor Championships.
The TASS-supported vaulter posted 5m 30cms in Sheffield to claim the runners-up spot in his first major competition of 2018.
Fellow Northumbria students Jason Nicholson and Jack Roach also delivered impressive results in the Steel City.
Nicholson claimed gold (7.90secs) in the under-20 60m hurdles as he continues to close in on the 110m hurdles at this summer’s Under-20 World Championships.
Roach claimed senior gold in the long jump with a leap of 7m 41cms.
The victory guaranteed a spot in the England team selected to compete at the Vienna International indoor meeting this weekend.