Newyddion
Weekend Round-Up (20-21 September)
22/09/2025 00:00, I Mewn Blog /
WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS – WOMEN’S 5,000M HEATS - TOKYO, SEPTEMBER 18
Welsh record holder Melissa Courtney-Bryant (Poole AC) lined up in the first semi-final of the 5,000 semi-finals in Japan.
The 2018 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist had done remarkably well to reach the start line in Tokyo following a roller-coaster season.
Having set a Welsh 3,000m record and world lead indoors in February, followed by a European Indoor Athletics Championships 3,000m silver medal in March, Courtney Bryant’s season was dogged by calf injuries.
The 32-year-old’s only outdoor race before the World Championships was in the United States in May where she broke her own Welsh 5,000m record, clocking 14:48.20.
In Tokyo, perhaps unsurprisingly given her lack of competition, Courtney-Bryan was unable to recapture that kind of form as she crossed the line in 15:15.83, which was not enough to progress to the final.
WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS – HEPTATHLON - TOKYO, SEPTEMBER 19-20
If there were World Athletics Championships medals for bravery then Abi Pawlett would surely have a place on the podium.
Although she eventually had to withdraw from the heptathlon competition, the Welsh athlete showed remarkable resilience to bounce back from a “horrendous” fall in her first event.
Pawlett literally picked herself up from the floor in the 100m hurdles to soar to a high jump personal best in the space of around an hour in Tokyo on Friday.
The 22-year old made a disastrous start to her World Championships debut as she fell in the final stages of the 100m hurdles – traditionally her highest scoring event.
Running in the third heat, reserved for the fastest hurdlers in the field, the 22-year-old was up against the likes of gold medal favourite Anna Hall of the USA.
Pawlett was third as she approached the final barrier and on course for a big opening points haul, but her trailing left knee clattered into the hurdle sending her crashing to the track at top speed.
The UK indoor 60m hurdles champion’s momentum as she rolled on the track after the fall took her over the line to at least register a time of 14.70.
But with a PB of 12.94, that meant a huge loss of points in what is potentially the multi-eventer’s most profitable event.
Pawlett was in tears as she walked away from the fall which also saw her hit her head as she crashed to the track.
Great Britain team mates Katerina Johnson-Thompson and Jade O’Dowda were seen consoling a visibly shaken Pawlett, who appeared to wave away the concerns of trackside officials.
The European Under-23 silver medallist didn’t have much time to compose herself due to the first day of the heptathlon being more condensed than usual.
With all four first day events being contested within the evening session for the first time, Pawlett was preparing to line up for the start of the high jump within half an hour.
Remarkably, the Welsh heptathlon record holder put her hurdles ordeal behind her by producing a brilliant performance.
Pawlett soared over the bar at 1.80m to shatter her previous personal best by a huge six centimetres.
A solid shot put performance of 13.85m – the longest throw of the three British competitors - followed from the Loughborough University student.
Ahead of the 200m, the final event of the first day, BBC commentator and former Paralympic long jumper Steff Reid said:
One of the things I think we should mention is the performance of Abigail Pawlett. We saw her have that horrendous fall in the hurdles.
She then came back and set a personal best in the high jump. She was the one who was saying to the medical team ‘no I’m doing this’. She had a pretty good shot put as well.
But to come back and set a PB in the high jump after the kind of fall that she had, that’s a pretty incredible feat.
Co-commentator Andrew Cotter added:
It was such a hard thing to watch in the opening event, the 100 hurdles
The draw for the 200m saw Pawlett line up with reigning World Champion Johnson-Thompson in the lane outside her and champion elect Hall in the lane inside.
But the Trafford AC athlete was undaunted by her illustrious company, leading the field home in the fastest 200m time of the competition – 23.25.
After the race, Cotter added:
It’s admirable what Pawlett has done after the shock, physical and mental, that she will have had and the disappointment in that first event.
At the end of the first day, Pawlett sat in 14th place overall out of the 23 athletes who started the event – a remarkable achievement given her calamitous start.
Had Pawlett run close to her personal best in the 100m hurdles, she would have been threatening the medal positions going into the second day.
A battered and bruised Pawlett emerged on the second morning with a large dressing on her left thigh and friction burns on her left shoulder.
The effects of her ordeal the previous day appeared to show as she recorded 5.98m, in the long jump well down on her PB of 6.42m set in June of this year. As a result she dropped a place to 15th.
After the long jump, Pawlett said:
It was a late night last night, getting back, checking in with the doctor, checking my head. Then a nice early start again this morning!
I think I was on an adrenaline high yesterday and I’m just trying to keep that going today. But I didn’t have that fire in the long jump that I guess I had in the high jump yesterday, but I’ll probably go back, check in with the physios and go from there.
Unfortunately, just after that interview, British Athletics issued a statement saying
Unfortunately, Abi Pawlett has withdrawn from the heptathlon as she is still suffering the after affects of yesterday’s fall. We wish Abi a speedy recovery.
However, Pawlett showed enough at this level to suggest there should be a lot more to come next year with the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham and the Glasgow Commonwealth Games on the horizon.
The gold medal was won by Hall ahead of Ireland’s Kate O’Connor, while Johnson-Thompson shared the bronze medal with USA’s Taliyah Brooks.
WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS –MEN’S 4x100M RELAY - TOKYO, SEPTEMBER 20
Jeremiah Azu (Caridff Athletics) produced an excellent run in the first leg for Great Britain despite the team ultimately crashing out in the semi-final.
The World Indoor 60m champion gave the GB team an excellent start as he handed over to Louis Hinchcliffe in first place.
GB had maintained that lead going to the final changeover, but Jona Efoloko and Eugene Amo-Dadzie mistimed their exchange completely resulting in GB not finishing.
WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS – WOMEN’S 4x400M RELAY - TOKYO, SEPTEMBER 20
Hannah Brier (Swansea Harriers) was part of the women's 4x400 relay squad in Japan, but was not included in the final team of four which finished eigth in their heat and did not progress to the final.
WELSH ROAD RELAY CHAMPIONSHIPS – JUNIORS – PARC BRYN BACH, TREDEGAR, 20 SEPTEMBER 2025
More than 300 young runners representing athletics clubs from around Wales gathered at Parc Bryn Bach for the 57th running of these championships.
The action kicked off with the primary school boys race where teams of three tackled a 1,900m course.
The winners were the Cardiff Athletics A team consisting of Henry Mee, Tomos Quayzin and Nye Donovan.
The fastest individual leg overall was run by Ewan Borthwick (Neath Harriers) who completed the course in 6:58.
Next up was the primary girls race, which was run over the same distance. Bridgend Athletics took the honours here thanks to the efforts of Dorothy Davies, Maisey English and Emery Greig. Davies was the fastest overall runner clocking 7:29.
The under-13 boys race over 1,960m was won by the Cardiff Athletics A team of Jacob Moss, Farley Pritchard and Zac Munn, who also enjoyed the honour of clocking the fastest time overall – 6:17.
Cardiff Athletics A were also victorious in the under-13 girls race, thanks to Madeleine Nunn, Emily Evans and Daisy Mosley. The fastest leg overall was run by Alesha Santos (Rhondda AAC A) with 6:47.
Three legs of 3,200m was the challenge facing the boys under-15 teams and it was Bridgend Athletics A who overcame it in the quickest time with a team made up of Jacob Rixon, Lewis Durston and Nate Greig, who brough them home in the fastest leg of the race in 9:58.
The under-15 girls race was won by Swansea Harriers A, where Izzy Lawley, Zoe Thompson and Lyla Jonsson took the gold medal. Jonsson ran the fastest leg overall with 11:51.
Newport Harriers A celebrated victory in the under-17 men’s race, also over 3,200m. Their winning team was Lucas Salvage, Joseph Roberts and Dylan Evans, with Salvage clocking the fastest time of 10:10.
The final race of the day saw Cardiff Athletics A win the under-17 girls race. The triumphant trio were Imogen Davies, Rebecca Harries and Bryony Boyce, who had the honour of clocking the fastest time with 11:09.
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