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04/08/2025 00:00, In Blog /

Welsh athletes returned from a successful Novuna UK Athletics Championships in Birmingham with an impressive array of medals, records and Commonwealth Games standards.

Medal wise, it was fitting Transition Programme thrower Adele Nicoll (Birchfield Harriers) struck shot put gold on her home track in the last field event of an action packed weekend.

Despite concentrating on training for her bid to represent Great Britain in the bobsleigh at next year’s Winter Olympics, Nicoll claimed her third UK title with a best of 17.17m

The Birmingham Commonwealth Games athlete said afterwards:

I have been so busy getting ready for the Winter Olympics that it has been great to come here.  It means so much to me to perform here on my home track as I am a Birchfield Harrier. 

I wanted to come here and prove to myself that I can do athletics even if I can’t get the distances I need.  Now I will be putting my shot shoes away and focusing on my bobsleigh training for the Winter Olympics as they are only 180 days away.

The para shot put competition not only saw Sabrina Fortune (Deeside AAC) claim gold, but also break her own F20 world record with a brilliant third round effort of 15.75m.

The Paris Paralympics gold medallist, who has been recovering from injury said:

It is crazy, I really wasn’t expecting that, especially after injury of the femur. But I am over the moon to get another world record. 

The throw felt ok but when I let it go, I thought maybe too high but then I saw the number it was literally the best feeling in the world.  My coach is now going to buy me pizza, so I am super excited. 

I am off to Delhi for the worlds, so now more training and it is great to go into a big competition with the buzz of the world record. I would love to get a gold and 16m in Delhi, but you really never know - this is the perfect start.

Silver medal in the para shot went to fellow Paris Paralympian Funmi Oduwaiye (Cardiff Athletics). The F44 athlete threw a best of 12.04m.

Earlier in the day, Oduwaiye won the para discus final with 38.77m, which brought her victory ahead of Cardiff clubmate Bree Cronin, who earned silver with 35.77m.

There was further Welsh gold struck on Sunday as a third Paris Paralympian, Olivia Breen (City of Portsmouth) won the para long jump final with a best leap of 5.00m.

Another Paris competitor, the hugely successful Hollie Arnold (Blackheath and Bromley AC) took the honours in the para javelin with 41.37m.

Sunday had started with a definite silver lining despite the thunderstorms forecast for the day.

In a ding-dong women’s javelin competition, where the lead changed hands several times, Freya Jones (Harrow) was eventually beaten to the title by Bekah Walton.

However, Jones had the huge consolation of smashing her own Welsh record with a throw of 56.53m, which also earned her the Commonwealth Games B nomination standard.

Jones said:

“I love competing in this stadium and the conditions for javelin have been amazing all weekend. Obviously, for the men’s javelin yesterday, where there were a number of PBs, we followed it up well.

“I got a Commonwealth Games standard for Wales so I am really happy about that.”

While Jones was on her way to silver, Bethan Davies (Cardiff Athletics) was circling the field en route to emulating her performance on the track in the women’s 5,000m race walk.

Multiple British champion Davies, who is returning to competition following the birth of her daughter, claimed silver in 24:47.93.  

On Saturday, World Indoor 60m champion Jeremiah Azu dipped under 10 seconds for the first time since May last year as he clocked a Commonwealth Games nomination standard of 9.97. However it was assisted by a 2.2ms tailwind – just over the legal limit.

The Paris Olympics 4x100m bronze medallist even had time to exchange pleasantries in the final few metres of the final with GB relay team-mate Zharnel Hughes, who took the title in 9.94.

Azu looked delighted with the time and the performance which should see the GB selectors confirm his place on the plane to Tokyo for next month’s World Championships.

Wales’ fastest ever man over 100m said afterwards:

I have to keep working hard and hopefully I can go to the world championships and be competitive and mix it with the best in the world.

He (Hughes) went 9.94 and I was really close to him so I knew it was sub-10. Luckily I was still able to run quick enough.

Performance Programme athlete Abigail Pawlett (Trafford AC) followed up her silver medal at the European Under-23 Championships in Bergen by winning the same colour medal here.

In a final that saw three fallers, Pawlett clocked 13.12 to finish second behind Alicia Barnett, having earlier clocked 13.00 in the semi-final.

Commenting on the final Pawlett said:

I was just glad to finish. One of the girls' hurdles came into my lane, so it was pretty messy.

I had a few aches and pains coming off the back of the European U23s, so to come back and get a silver medal here was great.

The U23s medal was the biggest goal of the season, so it took some of the pressure off this, I felt a bit lighter coming into this weekend. My heat was better than the final; it’s just a shame it wasn’t the cleanest run.

Cari Hughes’ remarkable switch to the 3,000m steeplechase continued in Birmingham having celebrated her debut over the distance with a Welsh record last month.

The versatile Cardiff Athletics middle distance runner repeated the feat as she improved her own national best and earned a well deserved bronze medal having been well clear of the remainder of the field for the majority of the race.

Hughes’ time of 9:41.66 also earned her a Commonwealth Games B nomination standard.

Birmingham Commonwealth Games competitor Amber Simpson (Wrexham AC) was in medal contention throughout the women’s hammer final.

The 26-year-old produced a consistent series of throws throughout a quality competition. Simpson’s best distance of 65.64m came in the second round and ensured her a bronze medal.

Patrick Swan (Cornwall AC) continued his impressive level of medal-winning consistency at British Championships by picking up more hardware in Birmingham.

The 27-year-old secured silver on this occasion with a season’s best of 18.15m in the second round to finish ahead of fellow Welshman Michael Jenkins (Swansea Harriers) who claimed bronze and a European Under-23 record.

F38 thrower Jenkins’ brilliant effort of 17.94m also earned him the gold medal in the para shot competition where Paralympic legend Aled Davies (Charnwood AC) was second with 16.51m in his first competition of the season. Jenkins also finished fourth in the men’s open discus competition with a best of 55.65m.

In the para discus competition, Commonwealth Games F44 competitor Harrison Walsh (Swansea Athletics) claimed a silver medal with a new personal best of 54.04m. Aled Davies earned bronze with 48.59m.

Transition Programme sprinter James Ledger (Swansea Harriers) won a brilliant silver medal in the ambulant men’s 100.

In the first of two races, Ledger finished fourth in 11.76, before going on to claim silver in the final, clocking 11.75 with his guide runner Greg Kelly.

Commonwealth Games competitor Ledger said of his performance:

It is great to have two opportunities to race against the best sprinters in the UK, so I really enjoyed racing in both races.

I felt a lot better than my first run earlier. I got out well and got through all my progressions. The biggest thing for us is holding that pressure throughout the run, and luckily, we did that a lot better on the second run.

There was an excellent bronze medal in the men’s pole vault for Thomas Walley (Wrexham AAC), who registered a best height of 5.10m.

A number of other Welsh athletes came agonisingly close to medals with fourth place finishes. They included Seb Clatworthy (Chelmsford AC) in the high jump, Issy Boffey (Enfield and Haringey AC) in the 800m, Justin Davies (Team Bath) in the men’s 800 final, Thomas Chaston (Belgrave Harriers) in the 3,000m steeplechase, Owain Terrell (Newport Harriers) in the 1500m wheelchair race and Fraser Higginson (Bridgend Athletics) in the 5,000m walk.

There were several other excellent performances across the weekend with an array of athletes qualifying for finals, setting season’s bests and personal bests.

RESULTS