Success Edouane clocks a personal best of 22.43 to beat Amy Hunt and move up the European rankings, while Jarnell Hughes and Sam Bennett also won gold in Birmingham.
Good luck Eduan produced one of the standout performances on day two of the Novuna UK Athletics Championships when she clocked a PB of 22.43 (-0.9) to decisively beat world silver medalist Amy Hunt.
“As I was praying this morning, I thought there is a reason for my name, and let’s not fail today and let’s execute,” he said.
Eduan won the European Under-23 200m title last year and is now the European No.1 heading into the big championships in Birmingham in August.
The Sale Harriers athlete believes there is still more to come, especially as she now balances elite sprinting and midwifery exams.
Eduan first became impressed with athletics during a cross-country race in Manchester. As an 11-year-old, he hit the front right from the start, looked like a sprinter and barely slowed down.
Before that he spent the first nine years of his life in Spain, but after a cross-country race he was advised to train for athletics and soon found his niche in sprinting.
“I didn’t know how fast I could go today, but I’m just thankful and thankful to God that I did the race I wanted to,” he said. “It’s only my fourth race of the season so it’s onward and upward from here.”
“I always believe in myself, like my whole team and my coach. I still have a lot to come. This is still not my full-time job at the moment. I am still in midwifery so thank you very much indeed. I know I can work harder and do more.”
Hunt, who had won the British 100m title 24 hours earlier, took the lead from the bend but Eduan beat him to take the win as Hunt clocked 22.64.
Crystal Ama-Awuah finished third in a PB of 22.99 and Dina Usher-Smith has only run in previous seasons and not in the finals.
Hunt feels he’s a little lacking in speed endurance right now, as the injury has forced him to do a lot of cross-training in recent weeks.
He said: “We wanted to use it as a form of training because we haven’t been able to train as much as we would like. We ran into some really annoying, frustrating issues, so that meant I spent a lot of time on the bike.
“So I think in the second half of that race it showed that I definitely have that speed, so me and the 100m are going better than the 200m, but that just means I’ve got to go and do the sessions.”
Jarnell Hughes won the men’s 200m in an impressive 20.04 (-0.5), but it was not, as the organizers suggested, a championship record.
Nethanel Mitchell-Blake was second in 20.35 with Ebuka Nwokeji third in 20.55.
“I have achieved everything I wanted to do in the 200m race. I’m just thankful I finished because my body is obviously tired after the 100m (where he was second to Rommel Glaive) so I just wanted to come back strong today. I got the gold medal and I’m thankful for that.”
Sam Bennett produced a remarkable return to form to win his first Great Britain 110m senior hurdles crown. The 2019 European Under-18 gold medalist clocked 13.41 (0.4) ahead of former champions Tade Ojora and Daniel Goriola.
“It’s very exciting to be the British champion,” he said, “the heats were a bit shaky and I wasn’t sure how I was going to do because I’ve had a lot of races recently. I managed to get in shape for it and the upcoming champions.
“I had two hurdles and I knew it was there, so I’m very happy to have put it all together. My finishing has always been my strong suit. The obstacles were coming at me fast so I was a little scared but I was excited to finish. I would have liked a faster time but it’s a PB so I have to be happy.”
