In the last decade, Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis-Hill, Greg Rutherford, Alistair Brownlee, and Paula Radcliffe (below) have all represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Olympic Games.
Moreover, all of them came through the English Schools’ Athletic Association (ESAA) system, achieving success on their way to the top.
This Friday and Saturday 13th and 14th July sees English Schools’ “ESAA 2018 Track and Field Championship” return to Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium where we could well see Olympians of the future across the three junior, intermediate and senior age categories.
You can watch track and field streams live from 10am UK time on this page of runjumpthrow.com, where there will also be live text updates. Viewers in North America will need to head to Runnerspace.com.
One of the most exciting talents due to compete is defending champion and European under-20 title winner Khahisa Mhlanga, who ran 2:04.34 to finish third in the Women’s 800m A Race at the British Milers Club Grand Prix in Loughborough last month.
Athletes entered by their counties include several newly-crowned European under-18 champions from last week such as 16-year-old Max Burgin, who ran an incredible 1:47.36 for 800m in Hungary and 110m hurdler Sam Bennett, who equalled the British under-18 record of 13.19.
London’s Dominic Ogbechie managed a world age best for a 15-year-old of 2.22m back in February. Having cleared 2.16m to win high jump gold at European level, he’s down for the Intermediate Boys competition in Birmingham.
3000m winner Thomas Keen, who turned 17 last month, ran 8:27.38 and has been selected by Cambridgeshire, while Raphael Bouju, who took the 100m title for the Netherlands in 10.64 is in the Bedfordshire squad.
Key information including a full list of teams and the event timetable is available on the English Schools’ Athletic Association website.
