Krakord throws 20.80m to win another gold to add to his huge collection at the Novuna UK Indoor Championships in Birmingham, while high jumper Joel Clark-Khan welcomes a return to winning ways.
Scott Lincoln returned from his sunny new training ground in rainy Britain on Friday in Melbourne, Australia, aiming to win his 21st national title in Birmingham on Sunday (February 15). He succeeded with ease as he threw a best of 20.80m, Patrick Swan won silver with 17.12m and Dillon Claydon bronze with 16.87m. But Lincoln has bigger goals this year.
He would like to win a medal at next month’s World Indoor Championships, plus of course the European Champions and Commonwealth Games this summer. Most of all, he would like to erase the long-standing British record of 21.68 meters, which belonged to Jeff Capes.
Such are her high standards, she was not satisfied with her performance in Birmingham and hopes to improve on her two scheduled events, one indoor and one outdoor, before the World Indoors.
“I’m so disappointed right now,” she said. “I just got off the flight from Australia. it’s no excuse because I decided to go in at this point. I felt pretty good, but I couldn’t hit high speed today. It shows consistency, but it’s disappointingly close, and hopefully in the next few weeks I can get it in front of the world.
“I just have to control the excitement of the competition. I’m ready to go with everything else. No matter how old you are, how many British titles you’ve won, you’re still excited about these events.”
Lincoln admitted to inhaling caffeine to try to combat jet lag and also getting high before the jump. But it didn’t quite click this weekend.
“My build is now on me and I’m ready for the majors,” he said. “I just need to be controlled and everything else will take care of itself. We’re aiming to hit big at worlds and these competitions are good little indicators to see where we’re at, so we’ll build from here.”
Joel Clark-Khan won the men’s high jump in 2.19, defeating Regan Korin on countback. It marked a welcome return to winning ways for Clarke-Khan after failing to make it to the Paris Olympics due to injuries and disappointment in the high jump.
Clarke-Khan even did the long jump at one point, but broke her leg in the process before returning to the high jump. With a best of 2.27m in 2022-23 and still only 26, he is hoping to return to international teams this summer with his pole vaulting fiancee Molly Codery.
“I’m ecstatic, over the moon,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever jumped over 2.10 on this floor. Not only haven’t I jumped in years, but I feel a little bad about this floor. I always feel a bit bad before that, so I was extremely nervous, but I built and built with it and finally connected with it in 2:19, so I’m happy to come back and stay as champion.”
Giffnock North’s Alessandro Scannini won the men’s long jump with 7.53m, while Jack Roach (7.52m) and Daniel Emegbor (7.50m) took silver and bronze.
“I would have liked to have jumped more but I just wanted to go in and win,” said Shenini, who became the first Scottish athlete to win the title since 1968.
“I kept thinking, ‘When is someone going to jump further?’ because the first jump wasn’t too far. But I was in the lead and it was easy enough. I won the outdoor championship with my first round jump, but again I didn’t jump much because I had a cramp, so I wanted to have a good last jump because the crowd was big, but unfortunately the jump wasn’t that big.”
