Thursday, 18 June 2015

South of England gold for Sophie Dowson; several schools' county medals; and world class Israeli performances


Harrow AC pole vault specialist Sophie Dowson, 16, gained her most significant victory to date at the South of England U20 Championships at Lee Valley. Her winning clearance of 3.60m matched her personal best, which positions her fifth in the UK U17 rankings.

The various Schools County Championships saw several medal winning performances by Jewish athletes. Eden Davis took 200m gold (22.4) and 100m silver (11.2) in the Hertfordshire U17 Championships, while Anna Barnett took discus gold (34.41m) and shot put bronze (9.40m) in the Kent U17 competition. Both of her performances were personal bests. Jessica Hurley (Herts U17 300m), Rachel Ayrton (Middlesex U17 800m) and Matti Harris (Herts U13 1500m) all gained silver medals, while Lia Radus (London U15 1500m) and Emma Taylor (Middlesex U15 javelin) took bronzes. Greg Hurley took fourth in the Herts U15 300m. All of these performances were close to or exceeded the athletes’ personal bests.

Two Israeli women, both originally from the Ukraine, have been producing world class performances on the international stage. Marharyta Dorozhon, 27, set an Israeli javelin record of 64.56m at the Oslo Diamond League on June 11. In winning the event she beat the European and double Olympic champion Barbora Spotakova, as well as the current and previous world champions Christina Obergfoll and Mariya Abakumova, and the current world leader Sunette Viljoen. Her performance ranks eighth on this year's world list.

Hanna Minenko, 25, moved to fifth in the world rankings and set a national triple jump record of 14.61m when finishing second in Prague on June 8. Minenko also holds the Israeli long jump record of 6.52m, which she set last year.

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