Stone secures Eastern League crown
► ATHLETICS David Stone won the 1,500m race at the Eastern Young Athletes League final, winning in 4.04.8.
In what he later described as “probably his best-ever track performance,” Stone led from the start, racing against a 4.01 athlete he had never beaten before.
Overtaken with 300 metres remaining, Stone regained the lead 50 metres later and won by 15 metres. Stone, who holds the titles of under-17 National Cross Country champion, Home International champion and Maccabiah 3,000m champion, bettered his personal best for the distance by 4.5 seconds in what was his second 1,500m race of the season.
Stone, who is 16 and studies at JFS, is now preparing for the Youth Development League National 3,000m final on Sunday.
Israel’s Adva Cohen placed fifth in the 3,000m steeplechase at the IAAF European Championships in Berlin with a new national record of 9:29.74. This ranks her number six in Europe in 2018 and contributed to Israel’s best-ever team performance at the competition. Also in Berlin, Zac Shaw, the UK’s topranked 100m sprinter in the T12 category for visually impaired athletes and an established international, contested only his first 200m of the season at the World Para Athletics Championships in a time of 24.30.
High jumper Roger Bruck, the UK number one in his age category since 2015, capped his British Masters achievements in Birmingham with gold medals in both the high jump and the 200m, adding to a long jump silver and 100m bronze to bring his tally to four. The UK’s biggest annual competition for masters athletes, widely regarded as the warm-up to next week’s World Championships in Malaga, hosted over 800 competitors, including a large overseas contingent. “I was particularly happy with my performance in the high jump,” commented Bruck, 79, after claiming victory in the event for the fourth consecutive year.
“I managed to equal my outdoor season’s best of 1.20m in truly deplorable conditions. We were competing into the wind in pouring rain and got totally drenched. The track referee even called me over after my 200m as she thought I might have strayed out of my lane because she couldn’t actually see it under the water!”