England Athletics – Under 15 & Under 17

2019 Indoor Combined Events Championships

E.I.S. Stadium, Sheffield – Saturday 9th March 2019

Under 17 athlete Emilia Russell made her Kingston debut, at the 2015 ‘Spring Open’ meeting, at the Costello stadium. Just three weeks later, she made the long journey up to Carlisle, with the junior team, for the season’s opening fixture, in the UK Youth Development League. She represented the team, in the 1200 metres race. She was then, and still is a talented young athlete. She learned her trade, like all the youngsters do, in the Humber track league, as well as her regular appearances with the junior team. She is a multi talented athlete and throughout 2015 and 2016, she competed at quadrathlon events in the Humber track league, her disciplines being javelin, shot, long jump, 800 metres and 100 metres. 2017 saw her competing in the Pentathlon event. Her debut came, in a Humber track league meeting at Costello, where she was the event winner.

The June 2018 Humber league meeting, saw Emilia in a action in the pentathlon. She was the winner of the event, setting new PB’s, in the 800 metres and the 75 metre hurdles, she also set a new points PB of 2424. Three weeks later Emilia debuted at her first major combined events championships, the North East Schools event in Middlesbrough. She took 5th place in the competition, setting new PB’s in the 800 metres, shot Putt and long jump, as well as establishing a new points PB of 2583. August of 2018 saw another debut, this time at the England Athletics National combined events championships, at the Sport City Stadium, in Manchester. This was also her first hexathlon event, the disciplines covered were, 800 metres, high jump, shot, 75 metre hurdles, long jump and javelin. She finished in 17th position and established a points PB of 2854.

Emilia’s first competitive outing of 2019, took her to the English Institute of Sports stadium, in Sheffield. To once again test herself, in the pentathlon against the best combined event athletes in the country. She started the day well running a new personal best time of 10.60 sec, in the 60 metre hurdles. Her next event, was the high jump, where she went clear at her personal best height of 1.50 metres, and went agonisingly close to clearing at 1.53 metres. The shot was the next discipline on the agenda. She launched out a new PB of 9.42 metres, an improvement of 58 centimetres on her best mark. It was a good start to the day, but fate was about to play a hand. Whilst warming up for her next event, the long jump, she felt a slight pull on her hamstring. She of course carried on, but in some discomfort. The long jump saw her put in a leap of 4.48 metres, which was 41 centimetres below her best. The final event was the 800 metres race, which she ran in a time of 2:32.60, some seven seconds off her best.

Her final score of 2800 points was a new personal best performance. It is also the best score in Yorkshire this year.