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Welsh Senior Under-17 and Para Track and Field Championships - Day 2 Round-Up
29/06/2025 00:00, In Blog /
The second day of the Welsh Senior Under-17 and Para Track and Field Championships witnessed Olympians, a world champion, emotional comebacks and championship best times on a thrilling day of athletics.
With the event also hosting a hugely successful Great Britain team trial for next month’s European Under-23 Championships in Norway, almost 800 athletes took part over the weekend.
And there was a fitting finale to the action as World Indoor 60m champion and Wales’ fastest man over 100m Jeremiah Azu (Cardiff Athletics) lined up alongside his brother and clubmate Alex Azu in the senior/under-23 men’s 200m final.
And it was Jeremiah who took the Welsh title in a brilliant new personal best of 20.83, with his brother claiming silver in a season’s best 21.30. Azu senior was just pipped to the open title by Jeriel Quainoo (Blackheath and Bromley) who claimed the overall win in 20.70.
However, Paris Olympic medallist Azu was delighted with his day’s work on his home track in Leckwith.
“I had so much fun,” said Azu. “A good bit of speed work. The goal was to get three rounds in and get quicker in each one so that was completed. It would have been nice to come away with the win but Jeriel’s a great 200m runner.
“I love running in Cardiff in front of the Welsh fans. I'm never going to forget a day like this.
On running in the final with his brother, Azu added: “Yeah, it was insane. I saw him coming off the bed. I was like, ‘yo, keep going’! It was good to see.”
Tokyo Olympian and Commonwealth Games athlete Joe Brier (Swansea Harriers) had competed in the semi-finals and heats, clocking a season’s best of 21.21 but didn’t line up for the final.
Brier’s sister Hannah Brier (Swansea Harriers), herself a Commonwealth Games athlete and Wales’ fastest woman over 100m, won the Welsh senior/under-23 women’s 200m title in 52.67.
Silver went to Sian Harry (Belgrave Harriers) in 54.50, while Ffion Mair Roberts (Belgrave Harriers) claimed bronze in 54.50.
The first track final of the day saw Commonwealth Games medallist Bethan Davies (Cardiff Athletics) make her return to top level competition by taking the Welsh senior/under-23 10k women’s race walk title after giving birth to her first daughter last year.
Davies, who claimed bronze over 20k at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealths, clocked a time of 52:39.10 with little preparation and just one other race this year – a 1km in May.
Although the time was understandably well outside her personal best, Davies was delighted to be back on the track – with her daughter watching on from the sidelines.
Davies said: “I was really worried about this race, because when I entered, it was only a 5k but it got jumped up to a 10k in the last couple of weeks. And I'm really not ready for a 10k!
“But sometimes you just have to put yourself in an uncomfortable position, which is what I did. I think it was around the slowest I've done on a track. But for me that's amazing, because I've got to be honest, I've hardly done any training.”
Another Welsh Gold Coast games athlete Caryl Granville-Moore (Swansea Harriers) produced a remarkable performance in the senior women/under-23 400m hurdles to break her own championship best performance – set 12 years ago.
Granville-Moore, who has overcome serious health issues in recent years, ran 58.42 to beat the record of 58.49 she set back in 2013.
Fighting back the tears, Granville-Moore said afterwards: “As a 35-year old now I’m a bit emotional, because I’ve always known I've been able to still run fast, even while I'm getting older.
“So it's nice to actually prove it. And it wasn't a technically good run. It gives me lots of confidence. The plan is to go to European masters in October and try and do my best there.”
The silver medal was won by Welsh Athletics National Development Programme (NDP) athlete Sophie Lisk (Cardiff Archers) who claimed a personal best of 59.90.
In the field events, the men’s senior under-23 discus title was won by F38 discus world record holder Michael Jenkins (Swansea Harriers) who took the title with a best of 56.08.
Jenkins, who hopes to represent Great Britain at the World Para Athletics Championships in India later this year, is also in the mix for a place next month’s European Under-23 Championships in Norway.
Jenkins said after his win: “As a para athlete, going to an able bodied games would be something else. Essentially, I’m a metre off the qualifying distance set by GB, but I think I’m in the mix.”
The men’s ambulant para discus title was won by Paris Paralympian and Commonwealth Games medallist Harrison Walsh (Swansea Harriers) with a best of 53.31m.
In the senior women/under-23 shot put, Commonwealth Games competitor and two-time British champion Adele Nicoll (Birchfield Harriers) added another Welsh titles to her name with a best of 17.56m, which once again saw her go over the B standard for next year’s Commonwealths in Glasgow.
The ambulant/para female shot put saw Paris Paralympian Funmi Oduwaiye (Cardiff Athletics) take the title with a new PB of 11.94m.
One of the athletes who booked an automatic place in the GB team for European Under-23 Championships was Emily Parker (Poole AC) who broke the Welsh All-Comers record in the senior women/under-23 3,000m steeplechase. Parker clocked 9:52.72 in the open race to surpass Elizabeth Hall’s record from 2005.
The Welsh title was won by Millie Gold (Swansea Harriers) who followed up her recent win at the Welsh under-20 championships as she clocked 10:37.28. The men’s Welsh steeplechase title was won by Oliver James (Bournemouth Athletics Club) in 9:08.62.
The senior/under-23 women’s high jump title was shared as Welsh Athletics Transition Programme athlete Hannah Lake (Cardiff Athletics) and Lili Church (Carmarthen Harriers) couldn’t be separated after they both jumped 1.69m.
The first Welsh field title of the day was won by NDP thrower Amelia Fettis (Newport Harriers) who won the senior/under-23 hammer with a best of 54.12m.
In the senior /under-23 men’s pole vault, Tom Walley (Wrexham AC) continued to edge towards the Glasgow Commonwealth Games B standard by winning the Welsh title with a season’s best 5.20m.
One of the most eagerly anticipated under-17 races of the day came in the women’s 200m where outstanding NDP sprinters Aliyah Afolabi (Cardiff Archers) and Darcy Coslett (Llanelli AAC) met in the final.
On Saturday, Afolabi had won the 100m in a championship best time while Coslett had won the 300m.
And the final lived up to the billing as both athletes broke the hand timed championship best time of 24.4 set by Jane Bradbeer (Cardiff Athletics) back in 1984.
Afolabi took the title with a blistering new PB of 23.86 – the fastest in the UK this year – while Coslett clocked an impressive PB of 24.27. Roxy McHugh (Sale Harriers) was third in a PB of 25.85.
The under-17 men’s final was won by Joshua Thomas (Cardiff Athletics) in a new PB of 22.90. Oliver Shearer (Cardiff Athletics) and Hari Rigby (Menai Track and Field) also gained PBs of 23.14 and 23.23 respectively to claim silver and bronze.
The top under-17 women’s long jumper in the UK this season, Olivia Scrimshaw (Deeside AAC) won the women’s under-17 long jump with a best of 5.64m ahead of fellow NDP multi-eventer Tiana Odugbesan (Cardiff Archers) who posted 5.57m.
Shortly afterwards, Scrimshaw added the under-17 women’s 80m hurdles title in 11.39 ahead of fellow NDP athlete Ava-Lexi Placide (Cardiff Athletics) in 11.47 and Odugbesan in third with 11.48.
There was further success for Deeside as Aidan Angilletta added the under-17 hurdles title to the two golds he won on Saturday, winning in 13.51 ahead of Macsen Martins-Hughes (Cardiff Archers) in 13.71.
NDP athlete Lucas Salvage (Newport Harriers) produced an impressive performance to win the under-17 boys 800m final, which saw a clean sweep for the Newport club.
Salvage won in 1:56.12 ahead of clubmates Dylan Evans and Tom Garrod, who both claimed PBs of 1:57.47 and 1:57.64.
The under-17 men’s 400m hurdles witnessed a thrilling finale where Toby Lemon (Deeside AAC) was leading before crashing to the track attempting the penultimate hurdle.
Lemon picked himself up from the track but wasn’t quite able to hold onto his lead as Matthew Hines (Swansea Harriers) overtook him in the closing stages to win gold in 57.89.