National champion: Croydon Harrier Romell Glave heads the British team for Birmingham
Croydon Harrier Romell Glave heads a large contingent of south London athletes named in the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team for the European Championships being staged next month in Birmingham.
Glave goes to the Europeans as the newly crowned British champion, and having since improved his lifetime best to 9.97sec, he will have strong hopes of improving on the European bronze medal he won four years ago.
Glave is one of three Croydon Harriers in the 98-athlete squad, who are also joined by three members of Tooting-based Herne Hill Harriers, plus Bromley’s defending European champion, Dina Asher-Smith.
Extraordinarily, given British athletics’ dominance at previous European Championships going back almost 50 years, this will be the first time that the senior Europeans have been staged in this country, a reflection on the absence of suitable track and field venues, and the national governing body’s lack of ambition or vision.
The south London contingent in the Great Britain team includes Lawrence Okoye, who is currently in Scotland for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where he is expected to compete in the final of the men’s discus this Saturday.
Okoye won Commonwealth silver when the Games were staged in Birmingham 2022, the same summer he became the first British discus thrower to win a European medal (a bronze). Now aged 35, the Old Whitgiftian and former pro American footballer should be at the peak of his powers in the discus circle.
Jump to it: former Palace rehabilitator Stevie Lawrence-Wrist has an anxious wait to qualify for Birmingham
There’s a call-up for Stevie Lawrence-Wrist in the women’s 3,000 metres steeplechase, “subject to ranking”, according to British Athletics.
Originally coached by Croydon Harriers stalwart Mike Fleet, she has only relatively recently gone full-time as an athlete, having previously worked as a sports rehabilitator with Crystal Palace FC.
Knocking nearly 25sec off her PB at this year’s national championships has got US college-educated Lawrence-Wrist on the brink of a major championship, but she will have a nervous few days’ wait for her selection to be confirmed.
At 30, Dina Asher-Smith, from Blackheath and Bromley AC, has already won six European Championship golds in her stellar career, including her second 100 metres title in Rome two years ago. Alongside her in the British team in the women’s 100 metres will be former Trinity School pupil Imani-Lara Lansiquot.
The women’s 1,500 has two south Londoners, Olympic bronze medallist Georgia Hunter-Bell of Belgrave and Herne Hill’s Katie Snowden, whose best international performance came when fourth at the 2022 Europeans in Munich.
Stellar career: Dina Asher-Smith
Another Herne Hill Harrier, Kristal Ama-Awuah, has made it into the women’s sprint relay squad, which will have high hopes of winning a medal.
It is her hitherto unheralded clubmate, Arlo Ludwick, in the men’s 1,500 metres, who just might land a surprise.
After staging a late kick to snatch the national title at Birmingham last month – the first Herne Hill Harrier to be English or British champion at 1,500/mile in the club’s storied 137-year history – he then knocked 9sec off his personal best for the mile when chasing home Josh Kerr setting the world record at the London Stadium 10 days ago.
Ludwick’s 3min 48.17sec is the eighth fastest mile by a Briton of all time, leapfrogging greats including Steve Ovett. Ludwick’s time would place him the length of the home straight ahead of Roger Bannister on the day in 1954 when he became the first to run a mile in less than four minutes.
At the Europeans, Ludwick’s biggest rivals will include teammate Jake Wightman, the former world champion.
The British team in Birmingham will be coming up against some of the biggest names in global athletics, such as Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis and Dutch runner Femke Bol, with the championship organisers laying on some special, cut-price ticket offers for the meeting.
There are finals every day of the championships, starting with the women’s 100 metres on Monday August 10.
Groups of nine+ are being given an exclusive offer to sessions 1, 3, 5 and 7 – the morning sessions of Monday-Thursday – the cheapest way to watch the athletics live. Child-focused groups are able to buy £5 youth (under 16s) tickets and for every nine purchased, two adult chaperone tickets are added free.
In addition, Adult, student and mixed-age groups unlock the special price of £5 per ticket when adding nine or more spectators to their order, a price previously only available for juniors.
There’s even a kids’ “Mondo Ticket” priced £6.31, to match the height of Duplantis’s most recent world record jump, released for Session 9 (Friday August 14), when the Swedish superstar competes in his qualifying round.
The action comes to the streets of the city centre at the weekend, with the marathon and race walks on Saturday August 15 and Sunday August 16.
The organisers are creating a Fan Zone at Centenary Square, which will become “Champions Square” from August 13 to 16. Open to all and free to attend, there will be activities throughout the duration of the championships, with details on the organisation’s website, Birmingham26.com.
- To book and find out more, visit tickets.birmingham26.com
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