Ennis world lead in the 60m hurdles, Farah gets European two miles best
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| Jessica Ennis of Great Britain ran the fastest 60m hurdles time in the world this year with 7.87 at the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham on Saturday. (Picture Alliance) |
"I am literally in shock. To go to .87 was incredible. I know training had been going well and I had been working on my starts, but to run that time in Birmingham, I am so happy.
"It was great to come here because I knew it was going to be a strong field, and running against Danielle [Carruthers, the 2011 World Championships 100m hurdles silver medallist] pushed me here all the way and got me my PB," said the thrilled Ennis.
“I didn’t expect to run that quickly at all. I feel in really good shape and the hurdles have been going really well. To run 7.94 or something like that I would have been really happy with, but to run that much under my PB is just brilliant.
“I could feel Danielle right there on my shoulder. It’s great to have that competitiveness and someone right there beside you, it pushes you on.”
Ennis had further reason to be delighted later in the afternoon when she added three centimetres to her indoor long jump best with 6.47m to finish third behind her compatriot Shara Proctor, who broke the British indoor record twice during the competition.
Proctor leapt 6.71m in the third round and then ended the day with 6.80m on her final effort.
"I came out here and I broke the record, and I'm excited about it going into the World Indoor Championships; that record is older than me, so my motivation was there to break it," said Proctor after beating the 6.70m mark of Sue Hearnshaw which won her the 1984 European Athletics Indoor Championships title, and which was later equalled by Jo Wise in 1997.
Turkey's Karin Mey split the British pair with a season's best of 6.66m
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| Mo Farah set a European all-time best of 8:08.07 in the two miles race in Birmingham. |
"I was a bit disappointed with the race, I felt a bit heavy. I appreciate all the support and I know I've just got to keep working hard. “It’s tough out there you know, you can’t always win and races like that really keep you on our toes,” said Farah.
Another British record almost came in the high jump. Robbie Grabarz won with a clearance of 2.32m before audaciously putting the bar up to a world-leading and national record height of 2.39m narrowly clipping the bar with his final attempt.
He gave his family and friends some nervous moments when he needed three attempts to clear the relatively lowly 2.20m but then went on to record comfortable first time clearances over 2.23m, 2.26m, 2.29m, and 2.32 to give the spectators a succinct lesson in how to make the event look easy.
“It’s definitely a confidence thing and I’ve really overcome the psychological barriers that were holding me back. I look back at what has been inspiring me to do well all winter and it’s been about gaining confidence and self-belief; I know what I can do, I know I’ve got it, and I don’t want to waste it,” said Grabarz.
Holly Bleasdale, the leading European this year, won the women's pole vault on countback from, defeating Poland's 2009 world champion Anna Rogowska. Both athletes cleared 4.70m but Bleasdale managed it with her first attempt while Rogowska needed two tries.
Like Grabarz, Bleasdale had a hard time getting into her stride at the outset and she needed three attempts to negotiate her opening height of 4.52m.
"I felt a little bit of the pressure, and today I felt really good on the run-up but my technique was a little bit lacking. I need to go back and work on that and hopefully I'll be able to go higher, but I'm happy to be jumping consistently,” reflected Bleasdale.
British success in the field continued when JJ Jegede won the long jump with a personal best of 8.04m.
“It was a really good series on a great track and with a great atmosphere. I love performing in front of a big crowd, I’m a bit of an adrenalin junkie so really enjoyed it. I beat a world class field so I’m happy about that and hopeful for 2012,” commented Jegede.
There were some impressive 400m performances from British runners as well.
Richard Buck contested the domestic race over two laps of the track and became the first European to break 46 seconds this season when he clocked 45.88. However, his accolade didn't last very long as Nigel Levine sped to a personal best time of 45.71 in the international race barely two hours later.
“It felt pretty good to win and I’m exhausted. I haven’t got much more to say except that I’m really happy with that; that was the race I wanted to run and it went exactly to plan. I’m going to go to Istanbul now and hopefully get a medal,” said Levine.
Poland's Angelika Cichocka won the women's 800m in 2:01.90, just edging out Italy's Elisa Cusma who was second in 2:01.99.
Britain's Shana Cox won the women's 400m in 52.18 to go to number four on this winter's European list with Czech Republic's Denisa Rosolova second in 52.44.
American sprinter-cum-long jumper Tianna Madison won the women's 60m in 7.07 but Bulgaria's Ivet Lalova, the second fastest woman in European this year, improved her personal best to 7.14 while Norway’s 2007 European Athletics Junior Championships 100m winner Ezinne Okparebo set a national record of 7.17 in third place.
Great Britain's 2007 World Youth Championships 100m gold medallist Asha Philip also ran faster than ever before when she clocked 7.19 for fourth place.
Poland's Marcin Lewandowski also showed that he has been inspired by the recent feats of his compatriot Adam Kzsczot and set a personal best of 1:45.41, although he was just out-leaned by Ethiopia's Mohamed Aman who needed a national record of 1:45.50 to beat the 2010 European Athletics Championships 800m gold medallist.
Another Ethiopian to win in Birmingham was Genzebe Dibaba, who won the women’s 1500m in a stadium record of 4:01.33 but second was Great Britain's 2011 World Championships silver medallist Hannah England in 4:09.79.
In one of the most eagerly-anticipated head-to-head battles of the afternoon, China's 2004 Olympic 110m hurdles champion Liu Xiang thrashed his Cuban successor as Olympic champion Dayron Robles in the 60m hurdles.
Liu had a great start and hurdled beautifully to improve his own national record by one-hundredth to 7.41 and handing Robles, despite an excellent race in 7.50 for second place, a comprehensive defeat.
