Sprinter storms to success ahead of Zharnel Hughes in Birmingham, while Nick Miller and Marc Scott also secure European Champs spots

Reece Prescod continued his fine form at the Müller British Athletics Championships, clocking 10.06 to retain his national 100m title ahead of Zharnel Hughes and CJ Ujah in Birmingham.

The 22-year-old’s win last year had been unexpected, but this time he was well and truly in the spotlight thanks to his recent wind-assisted 9.88 in Eugene and 10.04 win at the Shanghai Diamond League.

Describing himself as “relieved” after gaining gold on a warm and sunny but blustery day, Prescod also secured his spot on the British team for the European Championships in Berlin in August.

“Coming here with expectation and pressure was quite big for me but I’ve run well and I’m happy that I’ve qualified for Europeans and I’m taking it step by step,” he said.

“I felt a lot of pressure today, it was a weird feeling. Before, I could come to Birmingham and sneak in behind everybody and get on but now everybody is watching me, coming up and asking for pictures. It was really new to me but being at the World Championships last year gave me a lot of experience. I’m just taking it in my stride.

“I’m happy to come out champion today but with athletics, it’s anyone’s game,” he added. “I’m taking it bit by bit. I’m relieved that I won my title and I want to take it through to the next race.”

Hughes had clocked 9.91 to move to joint second on the UK all-time list in Jamaica earlier in the month and also secured his spot on the GB team alongside Prescod for Berlin after clocking 10.13 for silver ahead of Ujah with 10.18 for bronze.

World 200m fourth-placer Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake ran 10.20 in fourth, while Ojie Edoburun was fifth in 10.27.

In the men’s hammer, British record-holder Nick Miller threw 75.33m to claim victory ahead of Chris Bennett (73.29m) and Mark Dry (71.40m) as the top two secured their European Championships spots.

Brett Morse threw 58.90m in challenging conditions for his fourth British discus title and his 10th medal at this event to mark the start of what he hopes is a journey toward the 2020 Olympics. Greg Thompson secured silver with 58.10m and Nick Percy bronze with 57.26m.

Experience also paid off in the men’s triple jump final as Nathan Douglas, who won his first national title in 2004, claimed victory with a windy 16.83m (2.5m/s) to secure his spot for the European Championships, having already achieved the qualifying standard indoors.

Nathan-Douglas-British-Champs-2018-by-Mark-Shearman

Julian Reid was unlucky with the wind, missing the Europeans standard of 16.60m by just three centimetres into a -2.0m/s headwind, while his opening jump of 16.70m for silver was marginally aided by an illegal 2.3m/s wind. Jonathan Ilori claimed bronze with 16.25m (-0.5m/s).

Marc Scott clocked a 2:32 last kilometre and a 56.60 last lap to win the 5000m in 13:47.00 from Andy Vernon (13:47.81) and Chris Thompson (13:49.85), booking his place for the European Championships, while Thompson will have to rely on the discretion of the selectors if he is to receive a spot, having already achieved the qualifying time.

Zak Seddon and Ieuan Thomas also booked their Europeans places in the 3000m steeplechase, clocking 8:33.12 and 8:33.88 to claim gold and silver respectively. Jamaine Coleman was third in 8:38.17 ahead of  Jonathan Hopkins (8:41.45), who like Seddon and Thomas had also achieved the European qualifying time of 8:32 prior to the race.

Scott Lincoln won the shot put with a throw of 18.44m to get gold ahead of Youcef Zatat (18.01m) and Gareth Winter (17.28m), while James Whiteaker saved his best throw for last in the javelin final, his 71.29m securing him the gold ahead of Joe Dunderdale with 67.53m and Joe Harris with 66.11m.

Jacob Paul (51.12), Jack Green (50.68), Seb Rodger (50.56) and Dai Greene (51.14) won their respective 400m hurdles heats, while Jamie Webb won the battle for the line in the first 800m heat, clocking 1:50.56 to gain the automatic place in the final ahead of Michael Rimmer with 1:50.70. Other 800m heats winners were defending champion Elliot Giles (1:49.81), Andrew Osagie (1:49.92) and Dan Rowden (1:48.90).

The 1500m qualifiers included Jake Wightman, Neil Gourley, Chris O’Hare, Charlie Da’Vall Grice and Josh Kerr.

Conrad Williams pulled up 300m into his 400m heat at his final British Championships before retirement but got back up to finish the race to applause from the crowd. That heat was won by Martyn Rooney in 46.52, while Matthew Hudson-Smith ran 45.94 to win his race, with Paralympic 200m champion Richard Whitehead clocking 51.95.

» See the July 5 edition of AW magazine for full coverage from Birmingham, while a day one women’s events report can be found here