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2024 Round-Up
29/12/2024 00:00, In Blog /
Welsh athletes excelled on the global and domestic stage in 2024. Medals were won at the Olympics, Paralympics and World Para Athletics Championships.
World records were claimed as well as new British and Welsh bests. National championships attracted record entries and witnessed high quality competition.
The year started with a record-breaking Welsh Senior and Under-15 Indoor Athletics Championships, attracting the highest ever number of entries.
Outstanding young multi-eventer Luca Phillips (Cardiff Archers) set a new Welsh Under-17 long jump record of 7.18m claiming the senior men’s title.
A championship best fell to Hannah Brier (Swansea Harriers) winning her semi-final in 54.16. Brier won the final with 54.37.
Aliyah Afolabi (Cardiff Archers) set a new championship best of 7.62 to win the Under-15 60m title and completed the sprint double by adding the 200m title – twice improving Brier’s championship best.
In the semi-final Afolabi clocked 25.30, before smashing her own record to win the final in 24.62.
Aliyah Afolabi smashing her own 200m record at the Welsh Senior and
Under-15 Indoor Athletics Championships
Deeside’s Aidan Angilletta amassed four under-15 titles and a bronze, jumping a PB of 12.18m to set a new championship best. He enjoyed further success in the long jump and 60m hurdles.
In the under-15 girls triple jump, Mae Grant (West Chesire Athletics Club) set a new championship best and Welsh age grade best with 9.57m.
In February, Jeremiah Azu (Cardiff Athletics) struck gold at the Microplus UK Athletics Indoor Championships, winning the men’s 60m in 6.60. Olivia Breen (City of Portsmouth) won the 60m para final.
In the 1500m final Piers Copeland (Pontypridd Roadents) produced a perfectly timed finish to claim gold.
The same weekend witnessed the Welsh Cross Country Championships in Brecon. Matt Willis (Wrexham) took the men’s title after a five year absence. Commonwealth Games marathoner Caryl Edwards (Swansea Harriers) claimed her first Welsh Cross Country title in six years.
Caryl Edwards winning the senior women's race at
Welsh Cross Country Champs in Brecon
March started with Hannah Brier part of the GB women’s 4x400m squad which won bronze at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Glasgow.
Meanwhile, despite discovering she was competing two days beforehand, Matilda Quick (Swansea Harriers) won Under-17 women’s pentathlon gold at the England Athletics U-17 and U-15 Indoor Combined Events Championships in Sheffield.
April saw Amber Simpson (Wrexham/Illinois University) smash her Welsh hammer record in Illinois, recording 70.21m.
The same day, Sabrina Fortune (Deeside AAC) celebrated selection to the GB team for May’s World Para Athletics Championships, throwing a non-ratified 14.39m, equalling the world F20 shot put record.
To round-off a record-breaking April, Michael Jenkins (Pembrokeshire) set a new F38 discus world record of 57.14m – at the Coventry Spring Meeting.
The Loughborough International in May saw Freya Jones (Newham and Essex Beagles) throw a new Welsh javelin record of 53.74m.
Welsh athletes shone at the World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan, where Hollie Arnold (Blackheath and Bromley) won a sixth gold in the F46 javelin with 40.89m.
Sabrina Fortune produced the performance of her career to seal her third consecutive F20 shot put title in a world record of 14.73m.
Sabrina Fortune set a new F20 shot put world record at
the World Para Athletics Championships
Aled Davies (Cardiff Athletics) secured a sixth consecutive F63 shot put title the day after his 33rd birthday with 15.06m.
Harrison Walsh (DSW Para Athletics) celebrated his first world medal claiming bronze with his final throw in the F64 discus final.
May also saw Jeremiah Azu (Cardiff Athletics) write another chapter in Welsh athletics history becoming the first sprinter to break 10 seconds. The 23-year-old lowered his own Welsh 100m record to 9.97 in Germany.
Jeremiah Azu makes Welsh history by becoming the first sprinter
to break 10 seconds, clocking 9.97 in Germany.
The same day, in Halle, Germany, Freya Jones improved the Welsh javelin record for the second time in less than a week throwing 54.63m.
All roads led to Rome in June, especially for Clara Evans-Graham (Pontypridd Roadents) who helped GB to team gold in the half marathon at the European Athletics Championships. Evans ran a new PB of 1:10.06 to claim a valuable ninth-place finish.
The 106th Welsh Senior and Under-15 Track and Field Championships attracted a record entry and was littered with records.
Tess McHugh (Sale Harriers) claimed the 400m title in a PB and championship best of 52.89. Darcy Coslett (Llanelli Athletics) claimed silver with a PB of 54.29 which broke the 46-year-old under-17 record.
Having won the under-15 girls 100m title on Saturday, Aliyah Afolabi ran 24.06 in the 200m final to break the 40-year-old championship best mark and the Welsh age group record.
In a guest race staged to help Iwan Thomas achieve the 2,000m steeplechase qualifying time for the European Under-18 Championships, the Carmarthen Harrier gained the standard and broke the Welsh age group record.
After two golds and a silver on day one, Aidan Angilletta started day two by winning the Under-15 pole vault with 2.81m. He also won the 80m hurdles in a championship best of 11.44.
At the Welsh 3,000m and 5000m Championships Libby Hale (Swansea Harriers) followed her senior 1500m title at the Welsh Track and Field Championships by claiming the Under-17 3,000m in a championship best of 9:49.68.
There was another championship best in the under-15 3,000m, where Nansi Griffiths (Carmarthen Harriers) won in 10:11.54.
The UK Athletics Championships in Manchester saw Olympic selection achieved for Jeremiah Azu and a haul of Welsh medals. Azu’s silver in the 100m saw him claim a spot at the Paris Olympics.
Gracie Griffiths (Pembrokeshire Harriers) produced one of the most dominant performances of the weekend to win 5,000m race walk gold in 23:53.93.
Gracie Griffiths wins 5,000m race walk gold at the
UK Athletics Championships in Manchester
Despite not claiming an Olympic spot at the UK Championships, Melissa Courtney-Bryant (Poole AC) broke the 30-year-old British 2,000m record at the Monaco Wanda Diamond League meeting.
A week after beating Sifan Hassan over 1500m in the Netherlands, Courtney-Bryant took almost a second off Yvonne Murray’s British best to clock 5:26.08.
Carmarthen hosted the annual Schools International Athletics Board (SIAB) International where the Welsh team returned a haul of 20 medals.
Libby Hale took gold in the girls 1500m and an armful of records. In addition to claiming the 40-year-old SIAB championship record, Hale set new Welsh under-17 and under-20 records taking victory in 4:17.46.
Fellow rising middle distance star Millie Gold also claimed a Welsh under-17 record in the girls 1500m steeplechase with 4:58.50.
At the England Athletics U20/Senior Championships and Senior Para Championships, Sabrina Fortune improved her own world record to 14.83m and took gold.
The spectacular Paris Olympic Games saw Jeremiah Azu experience the highs and lows of top level global sport.
After first round disqualification in the 100m, Azu showed remarkable resilience to bounce back and win a bronze as part of Great Britain’s 4x100m team - becoming the first Welsh track athlete to win an Olympic medal for 28 years.
Jeremiah Azu wins a bronze medal as part of
Great Britain’s 4x100m team at Paris Olympic Games
If Azu’s fortunes changed within the space of a week, so did the life of endurance athlete Clara Evans-Graham.
At home preparing for her wedding, she answered the call to replace the injured Charlotte Purdue in the women’s marathon - just eight days away.
Evans finished as the highest placed Brit in 46th, clocking 2:33.01 in a race won by the remarkable Sifan Hassan.
Libby Hale was in record breaking action at the Welsh Junior Athletics Championships in Swansea, smashing the 20-year-old championship best of 4:33.21 to win the under-17 1500m title. She added another gold and championship best in the 800m final clocking 2:09.14.
Darcy Coslett continued her outstanding season by smashing the championship record for the Under-17 300m, setting a new Under-17 Welsh record of 38.22 on her way to winning gold.
Joseph Berry (Newport Harriers) followed his under-20 100m win with the 200m title in a new championship best and PB of 21.34.
Another championship best and Welsh record fell in the under-13 boys 200m final where Jacob Barnes (Cardiff Athletics) won gold in 24.71.
At the England Athletics Combined Events Champs and Under-20 Home Countries International in Eton, Wales’ Under-20 women’s 4x400m team - Anna Babis (Windsor Slough and Eton), Chloe Farmer (Cardiff Archers), Darcy Coslett and Sophie Lisk (Cardiff Athletics) - set new age group best of 3:49.83.
There was a strong Welsh contingent at the memorable Paris Paralympics in September.
Sabrina Fortune rounded off her spectacular season with gold and another world record shattering her own existing mark with her first attempt.
The distance of 15.12m put Fortune more than half-a-metre beyond the field and brought her a first Paralympic gold.
Sabrina Fortune wins gold in the F20 shotput at the Paralympic Games
Olivia Breen (City of Portsmouth) agonisingly failing to qualify for the T38 100m final and missed out a medal in the T38 long jump despite matching the distance of the bronze medal winner.
At just 21, Funmi Oduwaiye (DSW Para Athletics) was making her Paralympic debut and finished eighth in the F64 discus and fifth in the F64 shot put.
Also on debut, Harrison Walsh finished seventh in the F46 discus final, producing a best of 50.44m.
At the other end of the experience range, Hollie Arnold competed at her fifth Paralympics in the F46 javelin, hunting down a second Paralympic gold. It wasn’t to be for the six-time world champion as she had to settle for bronze with 40.59m.
Another para legend Aled Davies was eyeing gold, having topped the podium in London, Rio and Tokyo. But Davies was unable to claim the big prize in the F42 shot put, claiming silver with 15.10m.
Away from the Paralympics, Melissa Courtney-Bryant broke her Welsh mile road record at New York’s Fifth Avenue Mile finishing fourth in 4.19.9.
October saw Pontypridd Roadents Clara Evans-Graham and Dan Osborne-Nash claim the Welsh Half Marathon Championship titles in Cardiff.
Evans-Graham’s remarkable year continued claiming the women’s Welsh title in 1:15:42. Nash took the men’s Welsh title with a PB of 1:05:13.
The 21st edition of the event was the biggest in its history with more than 29,000 people signed up to take part.
Evans-Graham was in the news again later in the month smashing the Welsh half marathon record, finishing 14th in Valencia, posting 1:09:00.
In November, the Cardiff Cross Challenge enhanced its status as the UK’s premier Cross Country event.
In the senior races at the World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold Label event there was double glory for Uganda as Keneth Kiprop retained his men’s title and Charity Cherop claimed the women’s crown.
Top Welsh female finisher in fourth was Cari Hughes (Cardiff Athletics), whose brilliant run saw her finish in 20:25. Dafydd Jones (Swansea Harriers), was first Welshman in the men’s senior race, 11th overall in 28:02.
Dafydd Jones was the first Welshman to cross the line at
the Cardiff Cross Challenge
Hughes and Jones were subsequently helped the GB team which topped the medal table at the 2024 European Cross Country Championships in Turkey.
Jones was part of the men’s under-23 squad which claimed team gold. Meanwhile, Hughes was part of the senior women’s team which claimed silver.
The year ended with the Cardiff Metropolitan University Christmas classic where James Heneghan (Pontypridd Roadents) and Rebecca Harries (Cardiff Athletics) claimed the Welsh indoor 3,000m senior titles.
In the 600m Darcy Coslett set a new Welsh women’s under-17 record of 1:33.39, while Lucas Salvage (Newport Harriers) matched the feat with 1:23.03 in the men’s race.
We look forward to another great year of athletics and running in Wales in 2025!
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