SPEEDY FAWWAZ IMPRESSES AT THE PALACE

Trackspeed1 UK's English Schools international Fawwaz Okunola made a brief appearance on the indoor circuit on Wednesday (29th January) and sped past the best Crystal Palace could offer.

Fawwaz Okunola - knocked the opposition for six at Crystal Palace!

His closest rival in an indoor sprints meeting at his home track was training partner Kieran Daly, who ended up the day's number two amid a healthy field of both age-group and senior athletes taking part.

Fawwaz clocked a lifetime best 6.79s over 60 metres amid gasps from the onlooking crowd, with Kieran a strong second in 6.87 - his second fastest of the winter.

It was the fastest time of the Palace sprints series so far this season, and gave coach Joh Powell every justification for rushing back from Vienna to watch, after chaperoning an England team in the Wien international.

"That was a terrific performance," said John, "and one well worth watching.  Kieran ran well too, but identified some definite areas we need to look at, so we know for a fact he can go a lot faster, so it was really encouraging all round."

Fawwaz is now ranked 16th in the United Kingdom amid all athletes, and is the fifth fastest under-20, although he is by far the fastest born in 1997 or later, making him an exciting prospect as a potential international in the future.  Kieran is ranked 27th of nearly 1200 male athletes in the UK this year.

Trackspeed1 UK athletes by and large have opted out of the indoor season, but the signs are that preparations for outdoors are going well.  "We have a pretty diverse profile this time round," said John.  "We have a Ugandan international who is tuning up very well, and another permanent visitor from Trinidad and Tobago, not to mention an Italian Junior International."