Latest news with #PhoebeGill
BBC News
09-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Belfast Milers Meet kicks off athletics summer
World-class Canadian athlete Gabriela DeBues-Stafford will lead the entries at Saturday's Belfast Irish Milers Meet which once again is set to be held in perfect sunny conditions at the Mary Peters director Eamonn Christie has had the good fortunate of having the weather gods on his side in recent years and the athletes have responded by producing a series of brilliant runs in included last year's astonishing breakthrough by 17-year-old English talent Phoebe Gill, who broke the 45-year-old European Under-18 800m record when smashing her personal best with a one minute 57.86 performance propelled the St Alban's athlete to the Paris Olympics where she went on to reach the 800m was set to return to the Mary Peters Track this year only for injury to rule her out but Christie has still been able to assemble a strong entries list. DeGues-Stafford fifth in Tokyo Canadian DeGues-Stafford finished fifth in the 1500m at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 when she clocked her personal best of 3:58.93 as Faith Kipyegon, Laura Muir and Sifan Hassan clinched the coached in Edinburgh by 1988 Olympic 3,000m steeplechase bronze medallist Mark Rowland, the 29-year-old had a couple of comparatively disappointing campaigns in 2023 and 2002 and didn't compete in Paris last under Rowland's guidance, DeGues-Stafford is now plotting her second coming and has told Christie that she is targeting a brisk 8:40 pace in the 3,000m, which would be less that seven seconds outside her personal best of 8:33.92 set indoors in 2022."The plan is that two pacemakers will get Gabriela to halfway," Christie told BBC Sport NI."It's her first race of the year so she admits she doesn't know exactly what shape she's in but the plan is to attack the race." The men's 800m field will include twice British champion Daniel Rowden, who set his personal best of 1:43.95 in time is considerably faster that the 1:44.79 achieved by last year's Belfast winner Callum Dodds when Tom Randolph also went under 1: rivals will include his fellow Britons Justin Davies and Tiarnan Croken, who bettered the 1:46 mark 12 months ago, plus Spaniard Ignacio Fontes, who reached the Olympic 1500m final in it's unlikely that anybody will be clocking 1:57, the two-minute barrier could again be under threat in the women's 800m with emerging Britons Erin Wallace, Abigail Ives and Shaikira King in the field and Jenna Bromell leading the Irish finished second behind Gill last year when she was just outside two minutes while Ives clocked her personal best of 1:59.92 at the meeting in 2023 when finishing second behind Ireland's Louise men's 1500m has the makings of a good race with Cork athlete Darragh McElhinney taking on a field that includes four-minute miler and Ciara Mageean's boyfriend Thomas Moran plus English pair Max Wharton and Alex Melloy, who both have bettered 3:40 for the local challenge in the men's metric mile is likely to be led by Callum Morgan and UCD student and Lagan Valley club athlete Lughaidh will be much interest in Bori Akinola's performance in the 100m following an impressive winter campaign which saw him reach the 60m semi-finals at the European Indoor Championships after dethroning Israel Olatunde to win the Irish title.
BBC News
27-01-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Gill to return to Belfast after stunning 2024 win
Paris Olympian Phoebe Gill will return to this year's Belfast Irish Milers Meet after her record-breaking 800m performance at the meeting last then aged 17, smashed the 45-year-old European Under-18 800m record by clocking one minute 57.86 which cut almost four seconds off her previous personal Belfast victory started a run of remarkable performances by the St Albans athlete as she won the 800m at the British Championships and went on to reach the Olympic semi-finals in Paris. BBC Sport NI website's report of Gill's Belfast victory generated over 580,000 page plans to race over 1500m at this year's Belfast meeting which will take place at the Mary Peters Track on 10 Hertfordshire athlete's 1500m opponents will include Great Britain's double European Junior Cross Country champion Innes FitzGerald and another hugely talented English youngster Ava Lloyd who finished fifth over the distance at last year's World Under-20 Championships in athlete Erin Wallace finished second behind Gill in Belfast last year after clocking 2:00.23 and will aim to go one better in an 800m field which will include four-time Czech champion Kimberley Ficenec, who has a 2:00.68 personal best. Last year's Belfast meeting held in sweltering conditions also produced a superb men's 800m as Great Britain's Callum Dodds went under one minute and 45 seconds for the first time in clinching victory in a track record of 1:44.79 which propelled him towards selection for the European will return to the Mary Peters Track where his 800m opponents will again include compatriot Tom Randolph who also went under the 1:45 mark when finishing second last 400m star Sharlene Mawdsley, who anchored her country to a dramatic mixed 4x400m relay gold at last year's European Championships and won silver in the women's 4x400m in Rome, has also signed up for the Belfast meeting. Mawdsley's opponents will include Great Britain's Isabelle Boffey, who has won 800m European U18, U20 and U23 titles, but will move down in distance to race the Irish Paris Olympian, who won the 400m at the Belfast meeting in director Eamonn Christie opened entries for the meeting on 19 January and they were totally filled within 15 minutes to emphasise the status of an event which again will have World Athletics Continental Tour status."Once again I'm overwhelmed at how quickly the event sold out," said Christie."I'm delighted at the calibre of athletes who have entered, including international, national and local athletes. To date we have entries from Spain, Holland, Denmark, Belgium, Poland, the Czech Republic as well as Ireland and Great Britain."
