The teenage middle distance talent was the highlight of the British Milers Club Grand Prix meeting in Birmingham.
Freddie Rowe has continued his good form this season, almost breaking Steve Cram’s British 17 1500m record.
The teenager smashed his personal best by more than four seconds, lowering it from 3:44.62 to 3:40.26 to finish third in the men’s A race, won by BUCS champion Dan Galloway in 3:40.02, at the Adidas x sportshoes.com BMC Grand Prix on Saturday (June 30).
It means Rowe is now the second-fastest Briton over 1500m, just a fraction behind Steve Crum in the 1978 Great Britain-Germany Under-20 race at Crystal Palace.
Rowe just missed George Cauty’s BMC Under-20 1500m record of 3:39.77 set in Tooting two years ago, and also secured the 1500m qualifying mark for this summer’s World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Oregon.
“I’d be more than happy to end up like Steve Cram.” Rowe said: “I think a lot of the guys were going at the same time so it was a great race for me and really well done and the PB was probably better than I thought I would do.
“Europe under-18s is the main goal of the season for me, and next I have to go to trials and do some work there. I’m not sure with the world under-20s and selectors or not. I think I have to win the Euros for that to happen because I’m one of the youngsters.
It’s been a rough few months for Rowe. The teenager won the men’s under-18 race for the first time back in April at the Mini London Marathon, before setting a British under-18 mile record of 4:00.88 in his victory at the Bannister Miles a few weeks later.
The Havering AC athlete then won the tactical Gandy Mile at Loughborough International, producing a superb strike to challenge Ted Higgins on the home straight, with the pair running 4:04.10 and 4:04.36 respectively.
You can read more about Freddie Rowe in our June magazine, out on June 4th, but available for pre-order here.
