British Indoor Champions – Middle Distance.
800
Former World Championship bronze medalist, Ben Pattisonwas a comfortable winner in the 800 in 1:46.74. Pattison has struggled injuries etc after the Budapest medal and it’s great to see him at his best. Then he said: “Going into it I thought some of the guys would try to get off the pace because the wave lights are at world standard pace; I was the only one who had time. It was a pleasure for me to participate in it. I could just run it as a race, I didn’t need to track the time, so no one could manage it behind my head. to be because they had to work to surround me, which is very difficult inside, I really wanted to learn to be better tactically, so I had to do what I had to do.
Last year was so rubbish for me with injuries so I want to do as many races as possible now. I don’t know where I’m running the 800m at the moment, which may sound strange, but I’m learning every race. When I get to those world standard races, I have to be ready for them and raise my standards.” With Ben’s partner, Molly Hudson, taking the second place in 1500 m. it was a good weekend for the family.
Kelly Hodgkinson, who? had set a new national record in the semifinals, decided not to compete in the finals because he was said to be trying to break the world record on Friday. Issy Boffi, who ran 1:57.43 in Boston in January, Won in Birmingham in 1:59.64. He commented: “I’m always shooting harder, I’m not a natural front runner so I’m learning how I ran and I’m very happy to be British champion. Winning this title is a big step towards the world indoor. My first goal in Poland is to beat the heat, because I couldn’t, but I wanted to last time.
1500
In a sense it was 1500 men devalued by the absence of Josh Carey, Jake Whiteman and Neil Gurley. That said, it was impressive run Jack Higgins to win in a championship record 3:38.12. He summed up his day. “I haven’t done that fast work, I’m lucky that from my 800m background and from my younger years I’ve had natural speed. In the race when James McMurry passed me, it was a case of swinging wide and staying comfortable where I was. Until 400 meters, I still had time to react and I was not happy with the work.”
Gemma Rickey controls the semifinals and wins the women’s 1,500. With an impressive leadoff run, he advanced to the semifinals in 4:18.63 but was happy to be paced in the final before accelerating to win in 4:26.26. Ricky commented: Gemma has confirmed she wants to compete in the World Indoor Games, Commonwealth Games and Europeans this summer. He also told me that in the 2028 Olympics, he expected to target the 1,500 rather than the 800.
3000
Hannah Nuttall won the women’s 3k in 8:41.75 (championship record). He explained his approach. “You never know how it’s going to go in a Championship race and it went very quickly, which I really liked. When it got to 800 meters I knew it was my time to go. I started to pick up the pace a bit because I know Katie Snowden has a very good shot, so I was trying my best not to ever think about the championship. the record) just came, I guess if I won in nine minutes, I’d be happy when I saw the clock, it would be better.
Thomas Keen won the men’s race in 7:51.68
