Daniel Rowden beats Jake Wightman to 800m gold in Manchester
Daniel Rowden took gold in the 800 metres at the Muller British Athletics Championships on Saturday after getting the better of Jake Wightman at Manchester Regional Arena.
Wightman, a 1500m specialist but not taking part in that event in Manchester, led on the last bend before being overtaken in the final 50m by Rowden, who clocked a time of one minute 45.94 seconds.
Keely Hodgkinson powered to victory in the women’s race in two minutes and 3.24 seconds.
🗣 "It's absolutely incredible. British Champs is always an important competition, especially in a year when there's no major champs."
Daniel Rowden battled it out with Jake Wightman right to the very end to become British Champion 👏#MüllerBritishChamps#JoinTheJourneypic.twitter.com/RkrcjsWYIP
— British Athletics (@BritAthletics) September 5, 2020
Andrew Morgan-Harrison triumphed in the men’s 200m, clocking 20.69 seconds, despite an apparent injury issue. The women’s champion was Hannah Williams in 23.83, claiming the title her sister Jodie had won the previous year.
The heats had seen Kristal Awuah, who claimed 100m silver on Friday night, disqualified, along with Kaliyah Young.
In the 1500m races, Laura Weightman crossed first ahead of 5000m champion Jessica Judd, and George Mills won the men’s title. Other victories on the track included Daniel Knibbs and Laviai Nielsen over 400m.
🥇 𝓟𝓾𝓻𝓮 𝓙𝓸𝔂 pic.twitter.com/i6y8LSbg0s
— British Athletics (@BritAthletics) September 5, 2020
Holly Bradshaw retained her pole vault crown, and Morgan Lake also made a successful title defence as she won the high jump.
Last year behind Lake in second place was Katarina Johnson-Thompson – the world heptathlon champion was among a number of big names not involved in the event in Manchester.
