Sharman’s quantum LEAP for Berlin.

On the day the Met Office retracted their prediction of a barbeque summer for something a little more inclement, Loughborough’s European Permit Meet attracted dozens of top class performers who splashed their way to impressive marks writes LUKE STOTT.

William Sharman delivered a spectacular last gasp performance to secure his selection as a late call up for the world championships. The Belgrave Harrier who could be considered unlucky not have been a part of the initial squad, set a new lifetime best of 13.44 (+0.9m/s) in the 110m hurdles after a windy 13.39 effort in the heats. The result cements Sharman’s position as number two in the country behind Andy Turner with Euro U23 bronze medallist Callum Priestly taking third position on the national rankings with a 13.56 performance. In the 100m hurdles Sarah Claxton dipped under 13 seconds for the first time this season as she just lost out to Ireland’s Deval O’Rourke 12.90 to 12.95 (+1.1m/s) respectively.

For the second successive year a national sprint record was set in the 100m as Gibril Bangura set a Sierre Leone best of 10.09 (+1.9m/s) in the heats before succumbing to home favourite Harry Aikines-Aryeetey in the final , 10.18 to 10.24 (+1.0m/s). Bangura’s super fast time was made all the more impressive given the horrifically torrid conditions the sprinters had to deal with. By the time of the final event of the afternoon, the 200m, had been ran the weather was more reminiscent of a monsoon, something that would have been familiar to the scores of Indian athletes that had come to compete as part of their tour of Britain. The women’s 100m final played provided an intriguing match up between Olympic finalists as Abi Oyepitan and Jeanette Kwakye locked horns but it was Laura Turner who took the honours with a wind assisted 11.32 ahead of Oyepitan (11.45) and Kwakye who could only manage 6th place with (11.61). An interesting side note was the performance of Elaine O’Neill who recorded a personal best of 11.52 in the heats of the 100m only for the electronic timing to fail in a subsequent heat, giving the time keepers no choice but to issue all athletes with hand times.

In the 400m hurdles Japan’s Marashira Yoshikata (50.65) just did enough to beat European U23 champion Lloyd Gumbs (50.77) as Kim Wall won the 400m by over a second with 53.16.

Having missed the Crystal Palace Grand Prix Jessica Ennis collected two more personal bests as she builds towards her heptathlon campaign next month. A 6.43m long jump ,which will help dispel fears that her change of take-off leg has hampered her performance in the event, and a 13.96m shot putt will only add to the general sense of optimism that surrounds the City of Sheffield athlete’s world championship bid. Elsewhere in the field events Zoe Derham won the women’s hammer with 66.78m whilst European U23 bronze medallist Sarah Holt had to settle for second with 64.14m.

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