Sophie McKinna and Scott Lincoln show fine form in the throws during a busy match at Sportcity

Representative athletics returned after two years with the Manchester International taking place on Wednesday (Aug 18).

Following last year’s enforced cancellation, the host nation England took on Wales, Northern Ireland & Ulster, Great Britain Under-20s and a team representing the National Athletics League in a senior match.

There was also a junior competition featuring England under-20s, Scotland U20s, Northern Ireland & Ulster U20s, Wales U20s and GB U18s.

Sophie McKinna was in excellent form in the women’s shot and her 18.47m was a stadium record at Sportcity and her third best ever throw and gained her a European Championships qualifier.

Another Tokyo Olympian, Scott Lincoln, was in excellent form in the men’s shot and his 20.71m throw was his third best ever mark and his best ever throw in Britain. The UK No.1 was competing as a guest after not being selected by England.

Jess Mayho continued her good form in the hammer with a 68.72m which is also her third best ever throw.

Nia Wedderburn-Goodison, who is still only 16, won the 100m in 11.56 (-0.4) and followed that up by winning the 200m in a 23.59 (-1.9) PB.

The men’s 100m saw Jeremiah Azu of Wales winning in 10.48 as less than a tenth of a second covered the top three.

There was a blanket finish in the men’s 800m as well as Ben Claridge of England ran 1:51.10 to pip Dominic Walton (below, left) and Rocco Zamman-Browne (below, right) with the runners trying to utilise the fashionable technique of thrusting their arm out at the finish line to get their torso over the line ahead of their rivals.

Efe Okoro took the men’s 400m in a PB 45.94 and he was chased home by Kevin Metzger (46.03).

Will Battershill won the steeplechase in a big PB of 8:32.97.

Alex Haydock-Wilson followed up his 45.57 400m PB last week with a 44.7 anchor leg in the relay which saw the National Athletics League team beat England 3:06.80 to 3:06.83.

Chris McAlister won the men’s 400m hurdles in 49.60 as England ran out overall winners in the match.