SIAB Under 17’s International Championship
Julie Rose Stadium – Ashford, Kent
Saturday 16th July 2016
The 2016 home countries International Championship meeting was held at the ‘Julie Rose’ stadium in Ashford, Kent on Saturday 16th of July.
This is a British Isles competition organised by the Schools International Athletics Board, where the criteria for selection for this prestigious meeting, is set at the highest level, with the gold and silver medallists from the English Schools Championships, together with the gold and silver medallists from the Scottish, Welsh and Irish Schools Championships, representing their respective countries.
Kingston’s Olivia Stevenson the UK ranked No.2 was the silver medallist in the hammer throw at the English Schools Championships, up in Gateshead a week before this international match, where she was beaten to the gold medal by her arch rival Katie Head of Newham and Essex Beagles. The two girls renewed acquaintances down in Kent, where both of them were making their second representative appearance for England.
The other girls in the hammer competition were the Welsh Schools Champion Ffion Palmer, Jade Williams who was the winner of both the Ulster Schools and All Ireland Schools, Heather Fawcett the Scottish Schools Champion and Kirsty Costello the under 15’s Scottish Schools Champion and Sarah Watkins, who was the Welsh Schools silver medallist.
Olivia led the competition from the first round where she threw a huge 61.89m and she led the field throughout rounds two, three and four, with all the other girls struggling to get anywhere near her. In the 5th and penultimate round she launched an even bigger throw of 62.40m to set a new Championship record, beating the previous Championship best by more than four metres.
She won a most deserved gold medal and also had the satisfaction of gaining her first victory over the UK No. 1 Katie Head, who took silver with her throw of 58.26m, with the bronze medal going to Ffion Palmer of Wales.
Olivia was elated with the victory and said ‘The pride that came from wearing the England kit made me even more determined to beat Katie, I wanted to prove myself more than ever’.
On her second international appearance ‘I am privileged to have once again had that opportunity. Every year you meet this country’s potential stars of the future, which feels surreal’.
What does the rest of the 2016 season hold for her ‘I’m really excited for the rest of this season I hope to get more PB’s yet’.
Coming up very soon she has the Northern Championships in Middlesbrough and the small matter of defending her title and hopefully winning her 5th Northern gold medal. The England Championships follow down at Bedford and bring a further medal chance. From there to Loughborough for the 2016 ‘Sainsbury’s’ UK School Games to try and improve on last year’s bronze medal.
