Written by Daniel Rees
Winning performances from Adelaide Omitowoju and Shadine Duquemin helped the NAL team secure a fourth-place finish at the Loughborough International.
The 66th edition of the meeting – so often utilised by British athletes to open their seasons – was played out in warm conditions as England took the overall honours ahead of GB Juniors in second and Loughborough in third.
The NAL team’s overall points tally took them ahead of Wales and Scotland who finished in fifth and sixth.
The early performances from the NAL team were strong: Jess Mayho threw the hammer a distance of 65.74m to take second place behind England international Charlotte Payne, whilst Adelaide Omitowoju produced a milestone performance in the triple jump.
Despite fouling in the first three rounds, the UK Indoor silver medallist then jumped 13.19m in round four to set a new lifetime best by 9cm.
The performance also takes Omitowoju, 24, to third in the UK rankings for 2024.
Marli Jessop, who has recently made the switch from Shaftesbury Barnet to Harrow, secured second in the 100m hurdles with a time of 13.64sec, beating Olympic hopeful Katarina Johnson-Thompson in the process.
One of the most frequent names on the NAL team sheet, Jake Porter, took second in the 110m hurdles behind Thomas Wilcock.
It means Porter has now run at nine Loughborough Internationals, with his time of 14.34sec edging him past training partner Ethan Akanni.
Valuable points were dropped in the men’s 4x100m when the NAL, along with Wales, failed to finish.
But whilst the relay quartet breathed a sigh of frustration, Daniel Igbokwe leapt 15.53m to take second in the triple jump whilst Shadine Duquemin launched the discus 53.75m to give the NAL team full points.
Duquemin, who competed at the Commonwealth Games in 2022, produced the throw in the final round to cap off a fine victory and continue the NAL’s strong showing in the field events.
There were third-place finishes for Akin Coward in the high jump and Sophie Elliss in the 400m hurdles, whilst Daniel Eckersley produced a superb tactical performance to take second in the 3,000m steeplechase.
After the race, he described it as one of the wins of his career.
He said: “For me, that is one of the results of my career at 37 years old.
“I’ve not, in terms of placing in a meet like this, not done anything better. It’s a long time to wait for a race like that, so it’s a good day.
“I’ve never run for England at senior level, this is the highest representative honour I’ve ever had.
“I’ve done it once before in the old BAL days at the Manchester International; this is the first selection I’ve had at Loughborough.
“So to race like that, as scoring in the match, is one of the days of my career for sure.”
Joe Dunderdale at one stage looked set to take full points in the men’s javelin; his third round throw of 72.71m giving him the lead until the final round of the competition when Loughborough’s Ben East snatched victory with 73.05m.
