England U20 Decathlon Championships

Over the weekend Phil competed in the England U20 Decathlon Championships in Bedford.

It was his first year in the new age group and the standard was particularly high this year. Phil had a fantastic weekend, setting nine personal bests out of ten, and finished in fifth place overall with a score of 6692 points.

The weather conditions on day one were favourable, with warm sunshine and following winds. Phil started with a 100m time of 11.19 seconds – an improvement of over half a second on his previous best. He then improved his school long jump record to 6.98m before establishing a new school record in the shot put whilst winning the event with a distance of 13.67m. Now in fourth place, he finished the day with personal bests of 1.93m in the high jump and 51.42 seconds in the 400m to consolidate his position overnight.

Day two began in the same vein with a new best time of 14.75 seconds in the 110m hurdles. The conditions by now had become more challenging with wind and rain causing temperatures to drop. Phil threw 35.28m in the discus, one metre down on his best but still a solid performance. Normal service was resumed in the pole vault with a new best height of 3.46m, and this was followed by a PB javelin throw of 42.97m. Now in fifth place, he managed to hold this position with a tough run in the 1500m on tired legs. He took two seconds off his previous best time with 5:18.08.

By finishing as third Englishman (second and fourth place being taken by Scots), Phil now has a strong chance of being selected to represent England in a home countries international in August. If confirmed, this would be a worthy reward for the hard work over the weekend and during all of his preparation over the winter.