Tough conditions face Scottish runners in Falkirk, while the Welsh Champs and Northern Ireland Champs also see exciting battles on testing courses

On a busy day of national cross-country championships, while the English National took place in Nottingham there were similar events in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Lindsays Scottish Cross Country Champs, Falkirk

Mhairi Maclennan (pictured above) claimed her second Scottish cross-country title as she won the women’s crown while Jamie Crowe took the men’s title in gruelling conditions on a Falkirk course that was waterlogged in places, Peter Jardine reports.

Maclennan, who last won this title in 2018 and now runs for Preston, beat Annabel Simpson of Fife AC and Moira Stewart of Cambuslang as Fife won the team crown.

Crowe of Central AC justified his status as favourite for the men’s race with a fine win from Jonny Glen of Inverclyde AC and Kevin Wood of Fife AC. The winner also led Central to their 10th men’s team win on the trot.

“It was great to win gold for the second time in my career and especially after being fourth last year,” said Maclennan. “The conditions with wind, mud and sleet were so tough and really everybody who was out there and competed deserves a medal. It was a big field again for the senior women’s race and it is wonderful being part of that.”

Crowe said: “I felt nervous all week because people were saying I was probably the favourite. Those nerves worsened when the snow started in the first lap and at that stage you just want to get over the mud and get around. “But I managed to get away from Jonny, although not as early as I had hoped.”

Megan Keith took the under-20 women’s gold while Freddie Carcas won the under-20 men’s title – both juniors having won at the event 12 months earlier.

Carcas returned from a recent knee injury to beat Hamish Hickey and Tom Graham-Marr, while Keith beat Cera Gemmell and Holly Paige.

Welsh Cross Country Champs, Pembrey Country Park

James Hunt and Mel Wilkins took Welsh cross-country senior titles at Pembrey near Llanelli, Alex Donald reports.

Hunt, the 2018 champion, had been a pre-race favourite, targeting the 116th edition of the event to regain the title from seven-time winner Dewi Griffiths. Hunt knew he was in great shape following a sub-14-minute clocking over 5km just over a week earlier and his game plan was to go of hard and maintain a pace that he hoped would burn off his rivals.

Battling gale force winds, Hunt beat Ciaran Lewis into second with Dan Nash third and Griffiths fourth as Cardiff took the team honours.

“Conditions were tough but I went off quite hard at the start and I saw the boys trying to tuck in so I started to push hard in different parts of the course,” said Hunt. “Dewi finally dropped off the group and I never looked back so I’m really happy with that.”

Wilkins was a convincing women’s winner, going one better than her runner-up spot from 12 months ago as she beat Lauren Cooper by half a minute.

“It was extremely windy out there but it was brilliant to come back,” said Wilkins. “Last year I came second so to come back and win today was a big aim for me.

“My long-term aim is to qualify Commonwealth Games marathon for Wales but I’m going to stay pretty chilled until then and see how I get on.”

Dominic Smith ran solidly to claim the under-20 men’s title ahead of Sam Roberts. There was a brave attempt by Lloyd Sheppard to run away from Osian Perrin in the under-17 men’s race but Perrin timed his bid for glory perfectly to retain his title.

Samia Jones overcame last year’s under-17 champion Ashleigh Willis to win the combined under-20/17 women’s race outright.

Northern Ireland & Ulster Cross Country Champs, Coleraine, Feb 22

A cold biting wind made life difficult for competitors at the Northern Ireland & Ulster Senior Cross Country Championships held on the Ulster University Playing Fields in Coleraine, Malcolm McCausland reports.

Apart from hail and rain, those winds also brought change as three of the four titles on offer went to different new winners as Neil Johnston and Emma Mitchell picked up their first provincial senior cross-country crowns.

An understrength North Down squad retained the women’s team championship to maintain the status quo but an impressive Newcastle AC halted City of Derry Spartans who were going for a four-in-a-row in the men’s race.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Adam Cianciarulo was ruled out of Saturday night’s Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, event at AT&T Stadium after an injury suffered during the first timed qualifying session.

The Monster Energy Kawasaki young gun went down in the session and suffered a broken left collarbone, confirmed by Kawasaki officials on social media just before 4:30 p.m. ET.

As a result, the 23-year-old Cianciarulo will not race in the second of three Triple Crown events on the Supercross schedule this season.

“(It) sucks, but it is what it is,” Cianciarulo noted on social media. “My fault.”

The two-time 250SX Class championship runner-up sat fifth in points entering Saturday’s race in Arlington, 28 behind teammate and championship leader Eli Tomac.

Jon Rahm began his Moving Day at the WGC-Mexico Championship a ways down the leaderboard, but quickly made up ground thanks to four consecutive birdies to begin his day.

The exciting action didn't stop there, though, as Rahm collected two more as part of his outward-nine 30 to shoot up into contention.

By the time Rahm had reached the par-3 17th, he had carded three more birdies to get to 8 under on the day and 9 under on the week. As if his day hadn't already been exciting enough, this happened next.

The reaction says it all for the newly-minted European Tour Player of the Year. He carded a third-round 61 and became the fifth player to shoot 61 in a WGC event.

But he wasn't the first one to card a one on the scorecard Saturday at Chapultapec Golf Club.

Earlier in the day, at the par-3 seventh, Chez Reavie's tee shot found the bottom of the cup for his fifth career hole-in-one. It marks his second ace on the PGA Tour in as many months. He also notched one in August at the Tour Championship.

MEXICO CITY – Jon Rahm started his day at the WGC-Mexico Championship with three consecutive tap-ins for birdie and added a fourth from 12 feet at No. 4. It was a sign of things to come but not even close to the highlight of the Spaniard’s round.

That moment came at the par-3 17th hole when he one-hopped his tee shot into the hole for his second hole in one on the PGA Tour. By that time he was 10 under par for the day on the par-71 Club de Golf Chapultepec and poised to set a new course record (61).

“I'm just really happy that after the first two days I'm going to have a legitimate chance tomorrow without needing to shoot 59 or something like that,” said Rahm, who started the week with rounds of 72-69. “Luckily I took care of that today and hopefully tomorrow I can just put a solid round together and have a chance.”

Rahm had a similar round at the 2018 American Express when he began the week with a 62 at La Quinta and had no problems following that up with rounds of 67-70-67 to win the event.

“The main thing I just need to stay focused on what I have to do, know that I'm not going to get as lucky as I did today, and maybe know that I'm not going to make every putt I look at,” Rahm said of Sunday’s final round. “Just stay confident that I'm under control of my golf swing and keep hitting the right shots and hopefully get a decent start and give the leaders something to think about.”

Real Madrid dropped to second place in La Liga with a 1-0 defeat at 10th-placed Levante in a match that saw Eden Hazard limp off with an injury on Saturday.

The result puts the Bernabeu side, who entered the day with a point cushion atop the table, two points behind new leaders Barcelona who won 5-0 earlier in the day.

With Hazard making consecutive starts for the first time since November, Real were unlucky not to convert a pair of gilt-edged chances in the first half.

Hazard missed Real's best chance after a Marcelo through ball played him behind the Levante back line in the 53rd minute -- his mis-hit left-footed shot tumbling tamely at Aitor Fernandez in goal.

Zinedine Zidane was forced to bring on the youthful Vinicius Junior for a hobbling Hazard in the 67th minute, then it was Levante who scored the breakthrough on 79 minutes, with Jose Luis Morales sensationally beating Thibaut Courtois with a sweetly hit left-footed shot from a difficult angle outside of the box.

Madrid will face Manchester City in a Champions League round-of-16 first-leg tie next week and could be without Hazard if tests on Monday show he has picked up a serious injury.

"It's bad, it doesn't look good because he hurt himself where he was injured. It's a knock, not more than a knock, but we'll see if it's not much," Zidane said of the injury after the match. "Right now it hurts him, and we'll see tomorrow when we do more tests."

The Belgium international has played in just nine of Real's 25 league games this season but in five of their six Champions League matches. Hazard, who joined Los Blancos from Chelsea for £88.5 million plus bonuses last summer, has scored just once in all competitions.

Manchester City will have to maintain a very delicate balance for the rest of the Premier League season. The games themselves and the results, mean absolutely nothing: they're not going to win the title, and they're not going to drop out of the top four, even if that actually held any significance given their ban from next season's Champions League.

On the evidence of their 1-0 win over Leicester City on Saturday, there's absolutely no chance they will drop below second place either, so Pep Guardiola's side could essentially pop a pair of slippers on and cruise through the remainder of the season, for all the difference it will make. "Today we are 19 points [behind], so maybe we have a chance," joked -- yes, joked -- Guardiola afterwards.

But aside from the obvious yet intangible motivations of pride and obligation to the rest of the Premier League, the purpose of City's remaining domestic games are essentially as extended training sessions for the fixtures that actually do mean something.

Eyebrows might have been raised at Guardiola's team selection for this one, with Wednesday's Champions League game against Real Madrid in mind: many managers might have given some/all of Kevin De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Aymeric Laporte or Sergio Aguero the weekend off. But Guardiola knows that there's a fine line between making sure his players are resting up and maintaining some sort of momentum, particularly since they've just had a 12-day break.

We've seen with clubs like Celtic and Rangers in the past and PSG more recently, that uncompetitive league games do not make for good Champions League preparation. In those previous cases it's been because the aforementioned clubs are too good for the rest of the league, but the same principle applies to City this season.

This seemed like an ideal performance under the circumstances. They beat a theoretical rival by an ostensibly narrow margin but in reality with some comfort, while playing within themselves, and at the same time giving Aguero and Laporte some rest ahead of midweek. "The preparation after 12 days off was good," Guardiola said. "We have played two good games, and it's good to prepare for Madrid with these good opponents." Good.

At some points in recent months it feels like City have been relying on De Bruyne for inspiration, as if they have slightly lost their confidence and need him to take control of things and make something happen. Which he has done, his goal against West Ham in midweek being a case in point, almost barging a colleague out of the way to score in a manner that seemed to scream "stop messing around, I'll take care of this."

There were times in this game when that sensation was clear too, as if the other 10 players were waiting for the grown-up to sort things out. It will have ultimately provided some comfort, therefore, that the goal came from a terrific run by Riyad Mahrez and expert finish from Gabriel Jesus.

For Leicester, on paper this might not seem like the most calamitous result. But their form has been patchy at best for nearly three months now: they've only won three of their last 11 in the league, stretching back to early December, and those victories were against West Ham (twice) and at Newcastle. They're still 10 points ahead of fifth (and sixth) place, but there's a growing cluster of teams with their eye on the Champions League places: they could get dragged into a scrap yet.

They looked sluggish in this game, and it might be of some concern that Brendan Rodgers admitted afterwards that his side were "feeling" their legs in the closing stages. For a team that recently had a two-week break, that seems odd.

All of that made Manchester City's win relatively simple, but they did have moments of high fortune, and might've conceded two penalties. De Bruyne could easily have been penalised when the ball hit his arm from James Maddison's free kick, while Ederson was also lucky to avoid conceding a spot-kick after barrelling out of his goal and smashing into Kelechi Iheanacho in the second half. It might have been a genuine attempt to get the ball, but if two outfielders go into a challenge like that and one gets there just before the other, it will always be given as a foul. Why everything changes when a goalkeeper is involved is entirely baffling. Both decision went in City's favour, VAR David Coote -- who had earlier in the day overseen Chelsea's controversial win over Tottenham -- deciding neither warranted a penalty.

And then there's their issue with penalties. Kasper Schmeichel's save from Aguero's effort was the fourth penalty in a row City have missed, and the fifth out of 10 they haven't converted this season. Those last four were all by different takers, Aguero following in the footsteps of Ilkay Gundogan, Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus.

Perhaps this is just a weird variation, the sort of odd sequence of events that football throws up sometimes. But perhaps it is part of a wider problem, part of an issue with focus, or maybe even technique. It feels like something Guardiola needs to take seriously -- or give the people what they want and put Ederson on spot-kick duty -- but he doesn't seem especially concerned. "We have missed four penalties in a row, but maybe we will shoot a penalty when we need it to win something. The keepers are good too, but the next one we are going to score."

The penalties issue is one of a few ragged edges that City have this season, which feels like an obvious thing to say about a team that were expected to win the title but have just cut the deficit to top spot to a mere 19 points. They will have to smooth down those edges if they are to succeed in the Champions League, the competition that means the most to them now, if for no other reason than they can stick a middle finger up, high and proud, to UEFA.

That will be their prime motivation for the rest of the campaign, and these games will serve as mere tune-ups. In that regard, this one went perfectly.

Miami Dolphins assistant head coach Karl Dorrell will become the new head coach at the University of Colorado, a source told ESPN, confirming multiple reports.

Dorrell, who coached the Dolphins' receivers, will succeed Mel Tucker, who left the Buffaloes to become the head coach at Michigan State.

Dorrell was the head coach at UCLA from 2003-07, where he led the Bruins to five bowl appearances and amassed a record of 35-27. He was fired at the end of the '07 season, despite the Bruins reaching a bowl game.

Earlier this week, Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, a star running back at Colorado from 1987-90, withdrew his name from consideration for the job, ESPN confirmed.

Steve Sarkisian also withdrew his name from consideration and instead plans to remain at Alabama as offensive coordinator, sources told ESPN

Dorrell, 56, returns to college after spending the last five seasons as receivers coach for the Jets (2015-2018) and Dolphins (2019). His last college coaching job was in 2014, when he served as Vanderbilt's offensive coordinator.

The Dolphins gave Dorrell a promotion this week adding assistant head coach to his title, but Dorrell has been looking for an opportunity to return to being a head coach.

Dorrell quickly earned the respect of his Dolphins receivers last season and played a key role in DeVante Parker's breakout 2019 season.

Parker, who finished in the top-5 among NFL players with 1,202 receiving yards last season, credited Dorrell for teaching him how to watch film better, learning subtleties of the position and trusting him to succeed.

It's a return to Boulder for Dorrell, who was CU's offensive coordinator and wide receiver coach from 1995-98 and the receiver coach from 1992-93.

Colorado's search focused on coaches with NFL ties. After reaching out to Bienemy, the school also spoke with New York Giants assistant Bret Bielema, the former Arkansas and Wisconsin coach, and had significant interest in Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman, a source told ESPN's Adam Rittenberg.

The school also spoke with Sarkisian and Air Force coach Troy Calhoun, both of whom spent time in the NFL.

Darrin Chiaverini had been serving as Colorado's interim head coach.

JUPITER, Fla. -- Jack Flaherty is getting the ball on opening day for the St. Louis Cardinals.

St. Louis manager Mike Shildt said Saturday the 24-year-old Flaherty will start the season opener March 26 at Cincinnati. It will be the right-hander's first opening day start and comes after he finished fourth in NL Cy Young Award voting with a closing surge last season.

"It's one of of those things you work for and you want it," Flaherty said.

The nod comes one season after Flaherty pitched the home opener for the Cardinals.

"It's cool," Flaherty said. "Just happy I get the ball first, get the first chance to go out and kind of set the tone for the season."

Shildt gave Flaherty the news on Friday, not a surprise after Flaherty went 11-8 with a 2.75 ERA last season. Seven of those wins came after the All-Star break, when he posted a 0.91 ERA.

He also started three games in the postseason, allowing four earned runs in 13 innings.

Flaherty started three games against the Reds last season, allowing only one run in 16 1/3 innings while earning two wins.

"It's a nice accomplishment and it's a well earned one," Shildt said. "He was excited, but he took it in stride."

Shortly after Shildt made his opening day announcement, Flaherty took the mound for the Cardinals' Grapefruit League opener, a 2-0 victory over New York Mets in which he was awarded the win.

Working his scheduled two innings, Flaherty surrendered two hits and struck out three. He threw 20 of his 32 pitches for strikes. His fastball hit 95 mph on the stadium's radar gun.

"Everything felt good," Flaherty said. "It felt comfortable. I felt strong."

Saturday also marked the Grapefruit League debut of left-handed Korean import Kwang-Hyun Kim, known to his teammates as "KK". The offseason signee walked one and struck out two in a scoreless inning.

"I felt KK was good," Shildt said. "Good slider. Located his fastball. Showed a little changeup. Nice outing for him."

Kim is among the handful of pitchers vying for a spot in the Cardinals rotation. Adam Wainwright and Dakota Hudson will join Flaherty as starters. Miles Mikolas would have broken camp in the rotation, but a flexor tendon issue will force him to miss the opening weeks of the season.

World under-18 200m record-holder impresses on her British Indoor Championships debut, while Abigail Irozuru regains long jump crown

Amy Hunt may be aged just 17 and a British Championships debutante, but the world under-18 200m record-holder took the step up to the senior stage in her speedy stride to secure 60m success in style on Saturday.

After setting her world record last year – a feat achieved in the men’s equivalent by a certain Usain Bolt – Hunt says she became known as ‘the 200m girl’, but in Glasgow the teenager further proved her talent for the shorter sprints too by clocking 7.39 to finish clear ahead of Scottish record-holder Alisha Rees and Ebony Carr.

“I’m not going to be ‘the 200m girl’ now!” beamed the Charnwood athlete, back at the same Emirates Arena where just a week before she had finished fourth in a top-class Müller Indoor Grand Prix race, won by two-time Olympic gold medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce ahead of world indoor champion Murielle Ahoure.

“I do love it (the 200m) but to come away with the 60m, it definitely proves to all those people who are like ‘you can’t start’ that I kind of can and my first 60m potentially isn’t as bad as I thought it was.

“It’s massively surpassed my own expectations. It has been an incredible day,” added the Joe McDonnell-coached sprinter. “This is my first time at any British senior championships ever, so to come away with gold against some really incredible girls, it has blown me away. I’m absolutely over the moon.

“This past week has been insane. Being able to race against Shelly-Ann and Murielle last week was one of the most insane, amazing opportunities of my life and definitely an experience that came in handy today. Just maintaining my composure, keeping that cool and staying relaxed.”

Behind her, Rees ran 7.49 and Carr 7.55 to claim respective silver and bronze, while Winter Olympian Mica Moore, who competed in the bobsleigh event at the 2018 Games, finished fourth in 7.63.

After winning her first national title on the senior stage, Hunt’s attention now turns back to her studies, with an A-Level English literature exam the next task at hand.

“I’ve got an exam on Monday that I haven’t revised for!” laughed the double European under-20 champion, who claimed 200m and relay gold in Borås last summer. “It definitely keeps me grounded and level-headed.”

READ MORE: Sophie Cook claims emotional British pole vault win

Irozuru regains long jump crown

Abigail Irozuru regained the long jump title she won five years ago, adding the indoor crown to her outdoor win from last summer.

With a season’s best leap of 6.60m from the first round, the Sale Harriers athlete got gold ahead of Stoke’s Commonwealth medallist Jazmin Sawyers (6.44m), while bronze was claimed by Blackheath’s Sarah Abrams thanks to her 6.40m leap.

“Opening up with a 6.60m was like ‘phew, I’m not bad, I can actually jump!'” smiled world finalist Irozuru. “And then the rest of the rounds, my pattern in my runway just needs a little bit more consistency and that’s what I’m trying to work on.

“Even though the distances don’t reflect where I am, it gives me a lot of positivity knowing that the processes are working well.”

Miller clears barriers to gold

After multiple national silver and bronze medal wins, Derby’s Yasmin Miller finally got the gold she had been craving as she clocked 8.29 to narrowly take the 60m hurdles title ahead of Shaftesbury’s Jessica Hunter.

Behind them, Blackheath’s 18-year-old Marcia Sey ran a PB of 8.34 for bronze.

“I’m so happy,” said Miller. “The silver medals I have won, about three of them I have messed up in the race because of pressure, I didn’t believe in myself, so this is a huge confidence boost for me.

“I didn’t know that I had won. I dipped for my life to get there!”

Things go right for Knight

After her breakthrough 51.57 win on the same track at the Müller Indoor Grand Prix the weekend before, hurdler Jessie Knight was dominant in the 400m heats, going quickest with her 52.84.

Mhairi Hendry (2:06.46), Ellie Baker (2:05.27) and Keely Hodgkinson (2:09.16) each won their 800m heats to progress, while the first round of the 1500m saw Eloise Walker, who is part of Andy Young’s group along with the likes of Laura Muir and Jemma Reekie, and Holly Archer win their races in respective times of 4:28.83 and 4:31.40.

Full results can be found here, with the action continuing on Sunday from 12:00.

Long jumper enjoys his late show, while Scott Lincoln, Andy Robertson, David King and Jonny Davies also strike gold  in Glasgow

Dan Bramble saved his best until last as he leapt his way to a fourth long jump gold at the SPAR British Indoor Championships in Glasgow.

Trailing to Alex Farquharson’s personal best leap of 7.77m in the second round, the Shaftesbury athlete had found himself with a seven-centimetre gap to bridge going into his final jump.

Despite feeling out of sorts, Bramble had been in such a position before and called on his experience to produce the goods right when it mattered as he reached 7.81m and took the wind out of his opponent’s sails.

Coventry man Farquharson fouled on his final-round reply and had to settle for silver, while Sale’s Reynold Banigo took bronze for the second year running with a best jump of 7.75m.

“I don’t know what was going on – there was a miscommunication between my upper body and my lower body,” admitted Bramble, the first champion to be crowned this weekend, of his early jumps. “I pulled it around in the last round so I’m happy but today was a tricky one. It was hard mentally as well, when I know I should be jumping further, but we got there in the end.”

He added: “I’ve been in that position before where I’ve got to the last round and needed to pull out something big and I used that today – I kind of went back into that mode and used the nerves in my favour. It worked out.”

High five for Lincoln

Scott Lincoln is another highly experienced field event athlete with a string of British indoor titles to his name and the shot putter made it five in a row in the final event of the opening day.

His opening throw of 19.49m was ultimately enough for the York man to get the job done. Woodford Green athlete Youcef Zatat got closest to the runaway leader with his PB of 18.61m, while a season’s best throw of 16.49m won bronze for Cornwall athlete Patrick Swan.

“It’s always good to take the title,” said Lincoln. “I’m just frustrated because I’m not in 19.50m shape, I’m a lot better than that. I’ve got more in the tank, but it will come when I get all systems firing.”

60m success for Robertson

On the track, Andy Robertson was a happy man after winning his first 60m British title since 2017.

The 29-year-old Sale athlete ran 6.66 to clinch gold from Cardiff’s Sam Gordon (6.70) and Toby Makoyawo of Windsor (6.74).

Adam Thomas, silver medallist last year, was fourth in 6.76 while defending champion Dominic Ashwell did not start the final due to injury.

Robertson was quickest to qualify from the semi-finals, a stage from which the 41-year-old world and European medallist Dwain Chambers did not progress.

Many of the bigger names may been absent but Robertson said: “I knew it wasn’t going to be a given, despite not having a great deal of big names here, but this is preparation for my summer and you don’t want to not do them.

“This year it’s a good marker heading into outdoors with that to my name. No one closed the gap when I got going and I won the gold, you can’t ask for more than that.”

David King keeps his indoor crown

David King admitted he is yet to get up to speed but that didn’t stop him from successfully defending his British indoor 60m hurdles title.

A change of training set-up which has involved a move out to Phoenix in Arizona is still all sinking in for the Plymouth athlete, but still he was able to steer a path to the top of the podium, clocking 7.78 to hold off Woodford Green’s Cameron Fillery, last year’s runner-up, and Bexley’s Ethan Akanni (7.92).

“It felt like there was a lot of pressure this year,” said King. “The guys are running really fast and it certainly wasn’t an easy run for me but I’m really, really pleased to do it and it’s great to retain my title.

“I’ve just moved to Phoenix Track Club and it’s been amazing but they really structure their year differently to how I’ve done things in the past. We haven’t done a lot of speed work or power work and I’ve really noticed that when I’ve gone to races this year.

“I’m running really, really nicely just now but I don’t quite have that spark yet.”

Davies seizes his 3000m chance

Jonny Davies timed his run to perfection as he took the first British title of his career thanks to a well-judged performance in the men’s 3000m.

After Preston’s Jamaine Coleman had made much of the running following a very slow start to a race which saw the pace gradually pick up, it was the Reading athlete who kicked his way into the lead at the bell and crossed the line first in 8:07.96. Leeds’ Phil Sesemann followed in 8:08.86, while Cardiff’s Michael Ward (8:10.31) agonisingly pipped Coleman to the final podium place (8:10.33) on the line.

“I had a plan to take it on towards the end, it was a weird race as it kind of crept up in pace rather than any surge,” said Davies. “I felt like I should probably have a British title but I haven’t so it’s nice to check it off.

“This year is a big year for everyone, at least I’ve had a win indoors and now to finish it off with having a British title and a win, tick, now I need to keep going.”

Outstanding run from Osagie

One of the most notable performances of the day came in the second heat of the men’s 800m heats, with Andrew Osagie progressing thanks to his run of 1:46.84, the fastest time at this event in 30 years. He was followed home by world 1500m finalist Josh Kerr, who was second-fastest to qualify with a time of 1:47.73. Piers Copeland, Guy Learmonth, Alex Botterill and Daniel Howells were the other athletes to get through to what looks like being an excellent final.

Bolton’s Jonothan Kay qualified fastest for the men’s 1500m final in a PB of 3:50.36, with George Mills clocking 3:50.42 and Blake Moore also a PB in 3:50.43. British junior record-holder Tom Keen was fourth-fastest, winning heat two in  3:50.60

In the men’s 400m semis, Grant Plenderleith took the first in 48.16, while the second was won by James Williams in 47.58. 

Full results can be found here, with the action continuing on Sunday from 12:00.