EUROPEAN CHAMPION - DAVID STRIKES GOLD

European Junior 200m Champion.  Victory so sweet after the trials and
tribulations of the 200m yesterday! 

Trackspeed1 sprinter David Bolarinwa is European Junior Champion over 200 metres, after a scintillating final that almost never happened!


In the semi-finals, David won his race in 21.36 despite a -2.6 headwind, but then spent half his recovery period before the final throwing up!  And he admitted afterwards that he really didn't see how he was going to make the start line, much less win the final!

The double English national champion bounced back from the devastating disappointment of 24 hours before, when he took bronze in the 100m, producing a fine 21.36s run in the semi-final despite a -2.6m/s headwind.  But the following half hour saw him violently ill, and his very participation in the championships sat in the balance!

"David was incredibly motivated for the 200," said coach John Powell, "he hardly spoke a word during warm-up, but you could see he was a very determined young man.  I am so, so proud of him today - he is a year young in the under-20 age-group, and yet he has won a major championship.  I'm told Atto Bolden has commented on Twitter that he is a major talent to come out of England.  Compliment indeed!"

David's final time was 21.07s - the fastest 200m of his life, despite a headwind of -2.7m/s.  He immediately won plaudits from all over the world with both his and coach John Powell's phone filling up with congratulatory messages.

"The photo I was sent of David crossing the line (above/top) will be etched on my mind forever," he said, "the job satisfaction gets no better than this with a young athlete."

David and elated coach John Powell celebrate 200m European Gold!

Meanwhile, a little closer to home...

It was a significant weekend for the experienced sprint talent of Jason Hussain too, with two lifetime best times in each sprint...

Competing in a Super8 meeting, at Crawley, the 24-year-old Crawley AC number one cracked his 100m best with a winning 10.76s with legal wind speed of +1.7m/s.  Then he went on to record his fastest ever 200m of 21.23s, but was horrified to learn that the wind speed for that race was +2.1 - just 0.1m/s over the legal limit!

"It still shows the sort of form I'm in at the moment," said Jason, "and it's come just at the right time with the World Championship Trials just a week away now."

Jason Hussain had good reason to be smiling after
two PB's at Crawley.