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Loughborough International 2024 - 19 May - Preview
17/05/2024 00:00, I Mewn Blog /
A large Welsh team ranging from experienced Great Britain internationals to some of the brightest young talent in the UK has been selected for Sunday’s Loughborough International.
The 46-strong selection travels to the east midlands to take on athletes representing Loughborough University, England and Scotland, as well as a Great Britain Under-20s squad and a National Athletics League select team.
The two Team Captains, Hannah Brier and James Ledger will be eyeing up podium positions.
Hannah, who was selected to represent GB at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Glasgow earlier this year, is part of the Welsh women’s 4x400 team.
Having last weekend gone fourth in the all-time Welsh 400m list, Brier will run alongside Ffion Roberts (Menai Track and Field), Sian Harry (Belgrave Harriers) and Tess McHugh (Sale Harriers).
Commonwealth Games athlete, James Ledger (DSW Para Athletics), who represented Wales on the Gold Coast in 2018, will contest the Para 100m with his new guide runner Greg Kelly.
The Paris Paralympics hopefuls opened their outdoor season in Loughborough last month and will be hoping to build on the 11.81 they clocked at the Coventry Spring Meet.
Also lining up in the Para 100m will be 2021 European Para Championships 400m silver medallist John Bridge (Cardiff Athletics).
Tokyo Olympian Joe Brier, who recently helped the GB 4x400m team qualify for the upcoming Paris games, will be part of the Wales 400m relay quartet at the Paula Radcliffe Stadium.
The 4x400m European Championship gold medallist is joined by Harrison Wheeler (Llanelli), Liam McGivern (Wrexham) and Reece Middleton (Coventry Godiva Harriers).
In the field, Sunday’s event sees the return of Adele Nicoll to the athletics arena after a hugely successful winter representing Great Britain on the bobsleigh circuit where she won a World Cup silver medal with fellow Welsh athlete Kya Placide.
Double British champion Nicoll, who represented Wales at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, will be stepping back into the shot put circle following her exploits on the ice.
Another British Championship medallist, Patrick Swan (Cornwall AC) will be lining up in the men’s shot for Wales.
Meanwhile, Great Britain international James Tomlinson (Birchfield Harriers) will contest the discus.
Back on the track, Lauren Evans (Cardiff Athletics), who represented Wales in the heptathlon at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, will be concentrating on just the one event this weekend – the 100m hurdles.
Over the longer distances, Ben Reynolds (Cardiff Athletics), who last month finished second in Newport Half Marathon, will line up in the men’s 3,000m, while Anna Bracegirdle (Salford Harriers), who recently won the Chester 10k, contests the women’s 3,000m.
As well as the plethora of established senior Wales and Great British internationals in the team, there are a number of the nation’s most promising young athletes included in the selection.
Nell Desir (Cardiff Archers), who is currently ranked as the fastest under-17 woman over 100m in the UK, lines up in an exciting 4x100 relay selection. Desir is joined by Hannah Longden (Cardiff Athletics), Issie Tustin (Cardiff Athletics) and Eli Jones (Menai Track and Field).
Meanwhile, hugely promising multi-eventer Luca Phillips (Cardiff Archers), who is currently ranked the number one under-17 athlete in Britain at 60m hurdles, long jump and triple jump, will contest the long jump.
Also in the field, one of the home nations’ top young throwers will be competing in the discus. Lucy Harris (Swansea Harriers) is ranked third in the UK at her age group, thanks to the effort of 43.44m she launched in Leamington last month.
Away from the Welsh team, among those expected to compete on Sunday is Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Great Britain’s 2023 world heptathlon champion – an indication of the quality of athlete attracted by the event.
Alongside Johnson-Thompson, the expected capacity crowd will witness more of the world’s brightest athletes including Olympic finalist Emily Borthwick (high jump), reigning British and British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) javelin champions Bekah Walton and Ben East, GB 4x400m international Ben Higgins, and indoor BUCS 400m record holder, Emily Newnham.