OMARI SUB-50 AS BOLARINWA STRIKES GOLD (AGAIN!)

Fifteen-year-old Omari Carr-Miller, whose winter training was wrecked by a potentially career-threatening stress fracture in his shin, shattered his lifetime best 400m performance in Birmingham on Saturday (10/7).

Competing in the semi-finals of the intermediate boys English Schools Championship, the Croydon Harrier  dismissed the disappointment of being drawn out in lane eight with a superb 49.60s run, his first ever under 50 seconds.

Meanwhile fellow Trackspeed1 squad member, David Bolarinwa, was up to his usual tricks, strolling to victory in the inter' boy's 100m.  His 10.77s run in the final was a far cry from the 10.47 he had chalked up in winning the under-20 national title a couple of weeks earlier, but it was enough to see off the rest of the field in Birmingham by a clear margin.

Coach of both athletes, John Powell, who travelled to Birmingham to watch his two youngest charges battle it out with the best England could muster, was hugely complimentary to both athletes:

"Omari had never run in lane eight in his life, and called me after he saw the draw to ask how on earth he should run the race," he said.  "We talked it through, and he ran it by the book, with a fine finish that saw him scrape into the final by three hundredths of a second.

"Omari has endured a nightmare this last nine months.  He had a classic injury caused by overuse, in other words doing far more physical activity than his body could take.  He is so talented that there are huge demands on him, and with a slender frame it all proved too much.  Not being able to run at all during the winter was sending him round the bend at training.

"I was delighted for him running under 50 seconds at last - he will be so much better next year though.  He was immensely disappointed with seventh in the final (50.33s) where he landed lane eight again, but this summer was always going to be difficult, and simply being there was a huge achievement."

Bolarinwa heads now to Scotland this Saturday (17th) for the schools home international, although his training now will be solely focussed on the World Youth Olympics, in Singapore, next month.

"David will compete in the English National Championships for his age-group on 7-8th August in Stoke before flying out to Singapore on 9th," said Powell. "There is alot to be done between now and then."

Another gold for David Bolarinwa