Captain of Athletics 2019 Profile – Philip K

Philip began to focus on athletics more seriously during the Fifth Form and since that time has gone on to make an increasingly significant contribution to St Paul’s Athletics.

At the time of writing he has set seven intermediate school records and five senior school records in events ranging from shot put and discus right through to long jump, 200m and the pole vault! He was the highest individual point scorer of any team at the Guy Butler Shield and Lord Burghley Trophy competitions this year and was awarded the Marler Trophy for Outstanding Performance of the Year for winning five out of his six events at the former.

Due to his versatility Philip has taken to combined events with considerable success. Combined event contests consist of a combination of running, jumping, hurdling and throwing. Competitions take place over one or two days with competitors accruing points for their performance in each event. At the end of the competition, the winner is the person with the highest score.

As a Sixth Form pupil Philip won the silver medal in the England U17 Decathlon Championships with 6044 points and finished the season ranked 3rd in the UK. As a Lower Eighth pupil, despite competing against far older athletes, he finished 5th in the England U20 Decathlon with 6692 points. As a result of this performance, Philip was selected to be the U20 representative for the England team at the Home Countries International in Manchester on 3rd-4th August, where his contribution helped the team to victory over Scotland, Ireland and Wales. He has also tasted national success in the individual events, taking the silver medal in the Senior Boys’ Long Jump at the English Schools’ Athletics Championships in July 2019 with a jump of 6.89m.

Looking ahead to the future, Philip will still be in the U20 age group in 2020 and has aspirations of making the Great Britain team for the World Junior Championships in Nairobi, Kenya. To qualify he would need to score more than 7400 points and finish in the top two at the England U20 Decathlon, which seems an ambitious but achievable goal given his current rate of improvement. Philip currently trains five or six days per week, using a mixture of school facilities and those of the local athletics club. He has recently decided to become a boarder to help him balance his training and academic goals and we wish him every success in all these exploits next year and beyond.

Philip’s Achievements:

2018 Achievements:

Set the following school U17 records:

100m Hurdles    13.87 sec

Long Jump           6.71m

Shot Put (5kg)    13.61m

Discus (1.5kg)    42.44m

Pole Vault            2.97m

Octathlon            4993 points

Decathlon            6044 points

Won a silver medal in the England U17 Decathlon

UK Under 17 ranking 3rd in the Decathlon and Octathlon, 11^th in the Long Jump & 12^th in the Discus

2019 Achievements:

Set the following school U19 records :

200m                     22.2 sec

Long Jump           6.98m

Shot Put (6kg)    13.67m

Pole Vault            3.46m

Decathlon            6692 points

Finished Fifth in the England U20 Decathlon

UK Under 20 ranking sixth in the Decathlon and 15^th in the Long Jump