The 20-year-old breaks Merlein Otti’s championship record, while Amber Anning settles for a British indoor 400m bronze.
Day two of the British Athletics Indoor Championships in Birmingham (February 15) took a warming turn when Rene Regis was presented with his 200m gold medal by none other than his father John Regis, the former world 200m champion.
Regis went into the 200m final as the favorite after running a stunning 22.89 in the semi-final, which set a new championship record. The previous record of 23.07 was held by the legendary Merlen Ott in 1990.
In the final, Regis didn’t just win. he left the field in an impressive 22.95 to finish comfortably in the lead. Hannah Brier took silver in 23.37 and Brooke Ironside took bronze in 23.92.
“I didn’t expect to run that fast in the semis,” Regis said. “My coaches told me to commit, so I did.
“It was funny when my father gave me a medal. He didn’t tell me he was going to do it, but it made the moment even more special.”
The emotional family moment was just one of many highlights on a day that saw plenty of drama on the track.
In the final race of the day, reigning women’s 400m world champion Amber Anning was the favourite, but Amy Mary John stole the spotlight. Holding his form until the final bend, John edged ahead of Anning to take victory in 51.69 to secure his first British title. Louise Stoney narrowly edged out Anning to take silver in a personal best of 51.83. Anning matched that time to win the bronze.
The women’s 800m final had high expectations after Issey Beaufeu’s 1:57.43 in Boston a few weeks ago. Boffi wasted no time in taking control in the final, taking the field early. He pulled away in the 100 meters to clock 1:59.64, his second-fastest indoor time ever.
Emily Simpson made a brilliant surge in the closing stages to run a personal best of 2:01.43 for silver. Sheikira King also set a new best with a time of 2:01.49 to win bronze.
In the women’s 1500m, Gemma Rickey was the clear favorite and she lived up to expectations, winning in 4:26.27. Molly Hudson showed remarkable strength to take silver in 4:27.21 and Reeve Walcott-Nolan took bronze in 4:27.28.
The women’s 3000m also featured a strong field, although there were only seven women on the starting line. Eloise Walker led for most of the race but Hannah Nuttall hit her stride with 800m to go, pushing the pace and eventually breaking Jo Pavey’s 24-year-old championship record to win in 8:41.76. Snowden took silver in 8:46.09 and Walker took bronze in 8:48.45.
“I never know how championship races are going to go,” Nuttall said. “I wasn’t thinking about the time, but when I saw the clock, I was excited.”
Serena Vincent won the women’s shot put title with a season’s best throw of 17.33m, comfortably ahead of Sophie McKenna who took silver with a throw of 16.27m. Sabrina Fortune cleared a new personal best of 15.12m to win the bronze.
Kate Anson enjoyed a flawless series of jumps to win the women’s high jump title with a clearance of 1.81m. He then cleared 1.84m, grabbing all eyes in the stadium. The competition was light, with Thea Brown clearing 1.81m to take silver and Hannah Lake taking bronze with a season’s best of 1.78m.
Defending champion Georgina Forde-Wells had to fight hard for her title in the women’s triple jump. Despite strong performances from Reese Robinson and Leila Newt, Ford-Wells found her rhythm in round four, jumping 13.46m and improving to 13.53m in the final round. Robinson won silver with a jump of 13.05m, while 15-year-old Layla Newt won bronze with a jump of 12.95m, also a personal best.
Returning to the British Indoor Championships for the first time in four years, Bethan Davies added another British title to her name with a time of 14:00.94 in the 3000m race walk.
