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Weekend Round-Up (18-19 July)
20/07/2026 00:00, In Blog /
EUROPEAN ATHLETICS UNDER-18 CHAMPIONSHIPS – RIETI, ITALY, JULY 16-19
Darcy Coslett (Llanelli AC) bowed out of the European Athletics Championships at the semi-final stage in Italy on Saturday.
The Welsh Under-18 champion, who set a new age group best of 53.49 winning the 400m title at the end of last month, finished third in her semi clocking 55.01.
Only the top two finishers qualified automatically. Unfortunately, the time wasn’t enough to see the Welsh athlete progress.
Coslett had eased into the semi-finals on Friday, winning her heat in 54.87 ahead of Czech athlete Anna Cerovska.
Later in the championships, Coslett was part of the Great Britain 1000m sprint medley team which narrowly missed out on a medal as they finished fourth in the final clocking 2:07.59.
NOVUNA LONDON ATHLETICS MEETING – JULY 18
Two national records fell as Welsh athletes shone in a historic Diamond League meeting at the London Stadium on Saturday.
Charlotte Henrich (Invicta East Kent) and Jake Heyward (Cardiff Athletics) posted new Welsh bests in the women’s 400m and men’s mile respectively.
Heyward improved his own record in one of the most significant races seen on British soil in recent years.
Former World Champion Josh Kerr (Edinburgh AC) smashed the 27-year-old world record to win the prestigious Emsley Carr Mile in 3:42.66 in front of a sell-out 60,000 crowd.
Glasgow Commonwealth Games Team Wales member and European Championship 1500m silver medallist Heyward finished third in a new Welsh record of 3:46.73 behind Kerr and Olympic bronze medallist Yared Nuguse of the USA.
The noise inside the packed stadium was deafening as Kerr strode brilliantly to the world record and Heyward produced a strong finish down the home straight to overhaul Germany’s Robert Farken on the line for third place.
Heyward’s time slashed more than five seconds off the previous Welsh record which he set in Eugene more than four years ago.
The result bodes well for Glasgow with Heyward continuing his remarkable return from serious injury which kept him out of the sport for almost four years.
After the race, the 27-year-old said:
It is a weird experience when you run a 3:46 mile but you are still a fair bit back from Josh (Kerr). Fair play to him, it was an amazing run and he should be so proud of himself.
To put yourself out there like that, and then go and do it, is really special. It was amazing to be a part of that race.
From my perspective, it has been such a long time since I have been running, so just to be back in this environment is fantastic, and every race I am going to improve, purely because I am training week in week out, so to run 3:46 mile off five-and-a-half months training is pretty good.
One day I am confident I'll be in a place where I will be trying to run 3:42.
Earlier in the meeting, Henrich, who is the fastest ever British teenager over 400m, bettered her own Welsh record over one lap.
Heyward’s fellow Team Wales athlete, broke Michelle Scutt’s 44-year-old Welsh record at the British Athletics Championships last month, and ran even faster in London.
The 19-year-old clocked 50.45 as she finished eighth in another truly world class field led home by Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino.
The first of the Welsh athletes to take to the track was Team Wales captain Olivia Breen (City of Portsmouth) in the ambulant women’s 100m.
The T38 sprinter, who won Commonwealth Games 100m gold in Birmingham, finished fifth in the capital recording a season’s best 13.01.
Wales’ fastest man over 100m, Jeremiah Azu (Cardiff Athletics) had a busy day competing for Great Britain in the 4x100m relay and individually in the men’s Diamond League 100m race.
Azu, who will contest the individual 100m in Glasgow, finished eighth in the 100m, clocking 10.07 and set the Great Britain 4x100 team on their way to winning the relay in 37.95.
Another Team Wales athlete warming up for the Commies was Issy Boffey (Enfield and Haringey AC), who ran an outdoor season’s best of 1:58.85 to finish sixth in the 800 behind Olympic Champion Keely Hodgkinson.
Meanwhile, Boffey’s fellow Team Wales 800m star Justin Davies (Team Bath) finished third in a domestic non-Diamond League race in a season’s best time of 1:45.99.
SIAB INTERNATIONAL – BELFAST, JULY 18
A team of 60 athletes travelled to Northern Ireland to represent Wales at the SIAB International held at the Mary Peters Track.
The team returned with a total of 14 medals – surpassing the tally of 11 last year -rounding off an entertaining day’s athletics with podium places in the girls 4x100 and boys 4x400m.
Wales finished third in the team standings behind England and Ireland with a total of 231 points.
This year’s recipients of the Charlie and Mona Hughes Awards, which go to the most meritorious male and female Welsh performances were Aliyah Afolabi and Lucca Tardivel.
Afolabi (St Illtyds Catholic High School) won the girls sprint double as she claimed the 100m in 11.68 and the 200m in 23.96. Meanwhile, Tardivel (Ysgol Brynhyfryd) finished second in the boys 200m in 21.95. Both athletes were also part of the Welsh 4x100m teams
ROYAL VICTORIA HOTEL INTERNATIONAL SNOWDON RACE/RAS RHYNGWLADOL YR WYDDFA 2026 – LLANBERIS, JULY 18
The 49th running of the iconic 10-mile mountain race took place on Saturday.
Eden O'Dea (Deeside AAC) was the first Welsh female finisher claiming a bronze medal in the senior Home Nations competition and was the fifth female overall.
There were also male and female bronze medals for the Welsh senior teams in the Home Nations events.
Under-23 athlete Sam Gunning (Cybi Striders) was the leading Welsh male finisher overall as he claimed 16th place.
However, a special mention should go to 18-year-old Cai Dafydd who was making his Snowdon and senior Welsh debut.
The Meirionnydd RC athlete, was running brilliantly in the top six overall and the lead Welsh athlete half way down the mountain before suffering a big fall.
Dafydd bravely finished, but lost three to four minutes and eventually finished 20th. However, he showed enough potential to promise a big future ahead on the mountains.
Full results weren’t available at the time of writing but should be published at the link below in due course.
Race highlights are due to be screened by S4C on July 25 at 19:00.
RABBIT RUN WALES 2026 INCLUDING THE WELSH SENIOR TRAIL RUNNING CHAMPIONSHIPS (LONG, 65K) – MERTHYR MAWR, JULY 18
The event features 12K, Marathon (42.2K), Ultra (65K), Relay and Junior trail races that offer the unique opportunity to run on the private grounds of the Merthyr Mawr Estate.
The hugely challenging Ultra race was won in impressive fashion by Ellis Davies (Brecon AC) in 5:36:41 ahead of Matthew Wells (Brackla Harriers) in 6:55:46 and Simon Dymond (Tri Hard Harriers) in 7:12:54.
The first female finisher was Anne Marie Moon, who was also sixth overall in 7:38:01. Katie Morris was next home overall in 7:56:15 and Rachel Price was third in 8:17:57.
This year’s men’s 12K race was won by Daniel May in 49.50, ahead of Gareth Williams in 50:49 and Dan Austin 51:03.
The women’s race was won by Jane Faram in 57:35 with Emma Wookey (Lliswerry Runners) second in 58:11 and Antoinette Rose third in 1:01:14.
Winner of this year’s men’s marathon was won in hugely convincing fashion by Jacob Tasker (Bridgend Athletics Club) in 2:53:25. James Ross (Highgate Harriers) was second in 3:21:00 and Robert Amos third in 3:22:26.
In the women’s race, Caroline Davis, took centre stage with a run of 4:11:18. Second place went to Katie Plimmer in 4:27:16 with Nia Banfield third in 4:28:53.
UK YOUTH DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE LOWER – MIDLANDS SW PREMIER – CARDIFF, JULY 18
The latest UK Development League Lower – Midlands SW Premier fixture was held at the Cardiff International Sports Campus in Cardiff on Saturday.
UK YOUTH DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE LOWER – MIDLANDS SW 1A – NEATH, JULY 18
The latest UK Development League Lower – Midlands SW 1A fixture was held at the Cwrt Herbert Athletics Track in Neath on Saturday.RESULTS
BE FIT FOR TODAY TRACK ACADEMY – LEE VALLEY, JULY 19
National Development Programme sprinter and Great Britain international Nell Desir (Cardiff Archers) finished sixth in her first round heat in London, clocking a time of 11.88.
In the men’s 100m heats, Marek Warzocha (Swansea Harriers) won his race in 10.77, while Cameron Jones (Menai Track and Field) was fourth in 10.85. Jones also ran 22.18 to finish sixth in his 200m heat.
The women’s 400m saw Sian Harry (Belgrave Harriers) finish second in her heat in 54.51.
VIADUCT RUN – RAS DRAPHONT 2026 – HAFODYRYNYS, JULY 19
The results of this year’s race are still being compiled but will be published on the event’s Facebook page below.
SOUTH WEST TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2026 - EXETER, JULY 19
William Richards-Baldwin (Cheltenham Harriers), competed at the South-West of England Championships in Exeter today (July 19) and won the Hammer (51.99m), Shot (17.12m) and Discus (50.21m).
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