Perri Shakes-Drayton marks double win at the UK Trials and Championships – Athletics news
As the UK Trials and Championships in Birmingham observed its third day at the Alexander Stadium, Birmingham, Perri Shakes-Drayton, the 400m hurdle specialist from UK, emerged as a unique title holder. The silver medal winner of the 2007 European Athletics
Junior Championships not only prevailed in the discipline she specialises in, but also marked her dominance in the 400m flat competitions.
Meanwhile, her male counterpart, Martyn Rooney claimed victory in the 400m contest, but he did not meet the IAAF standard finishing time of 45.25 seconds, as he could only cross the line in 45.44 seconds.
While competing at the Alexander stadium situated in the backyard of the 2012 Olympics venue, Shakes-Drayton developed some recognition just like Christine Ohuruogu - the girl which is being regarded as the pre-favourite for the London Olympics.
London-born Shakes-Drayton, who was the gold medallist of the 2009 European U-23 title, had appeared in her first senior level competition in Barcelona last season, and for her performance, she had successfully earned a bronze medal. On Saturday in Birmingham,
she outran the current Olympic Champion, Ohuruogo and the fight culminated in getting a 400m title.
However, the competition which had to witness her real strength was the Hurdles showdown, which took place on Sunday. Severe competition shown by Eilidh Child, the local runner, who ran shoulder to shoulder against her until the two final barriers were left
to go. From there onwards, Shakes-Drayton decided to take charge of the race and stopped the clock at 55.52 seconds.
Overjoyed at her performance, Shakes-Drayton said, “I’ve just made history. No one’s done that before and now I can say I’ve done it. I said to myself today. I’ve won the 400 but that ain’t my event. The 400 hurdles is my event. I wanted to do the business
today. Now I’ve done it.”
The win at the UK Trials and Championships in Birmingham certainly has worked as a power booster for the girl, who was of the view that now she is better capable of concentrating on athletics.
On the Men’s side, victory was claimed by Rooney. Although it was a good effort by the runner, but unfortunately, it was not good enough to get him a ticket to Daegu. Perhaps, this was the reason that his below the mark performance was severely criticised
by Charles van Comenee, UK Athletics’ head coach.
Disappointed over his performance, Rooney commented, “It’s still not really good enough, it’s still not an A standard. Pretty poor. If you ask any of the top guys, we’re not satisfied, but we’ve just got to sort it out and pull our fingers out. We need to
do it better over the next couple of weeks before we go to Daegu.”
The silver medal winner of the 2009 World Championships said that he was getting frustrated because he has constantly been unable to perform on the field. To him, though the standard was not that high to achieve, however, he still needed some time to reach
that mark.
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