SPAR British Champs

Hat-trick hero

One year earlier on the very same bend of the Emirates Arena track, he hated being the fall Guy.

Fast forward to the British Champs back at the Glasgow venue and Guy Learmonth propelled himself to his third Indoor UK gold.

In fact, it was his ninth British Championship medal at 800m to make him the most decorated athlete in the male division of that particular event – quite a compliment given some of the great names of the past.

Guy’s gold led home a Scottish medal rush on the Sunday afternoon which become nine in total and now the Borderer has his sights firmly set on making the GB team for the Olympics.

‘Hopefully this British Champs gold is a sign of things to come,’ said Guy, who fell over in the Glasgow 2019 heats when he was captain of the GB team. This time, he hurdled Alex Botterill and surged on to win in an indoor PB of 1:46.89 with early leader Josh Kerr finishing fourth.

‘I want to go even quicker this year. I’ve always set my goals high and I know I can do that. As long as I stay in one piece, I firmly believe I can compete with the world’s best every week.

Guy’s third indoor gold leads home nine Scottish medals

stone to outdoors. But I have to get the job done at the Olympic trials.

‘Nine times out of ten I perform at the trials whereas other guys crack and crumble but I’ve got to focus on that.

‘I’m just taking one race at a time but the Olympics is in the back of my mind because of course I want to be on that plane to Tokyo and I want to be in the final.

‘The 800m is a tough event so I’ve got to be in one piece, keep training hard and keep my head down. It’s Manchester 2020 in my head, not Tokyo 2020 yet.

‘I feel I can go faster than I ever have. I want to run 1:43 – I’ve been wanting to do that for a few years. It might be a bit ambitious but if I get the right race and get stuck in and go for it, I don’t see why not.

‘I don’t set a limit on what I can run – there’s certain goals and targets along the way and once I hit them, I’ll move onto the next one.’

David Smith took silver in the men’s High Jump with 2.24m as Tom Gale won at 2.27m.

‘High jump is always bittersweet, 2.27m would have been a PB for me but I can’t be angry with a 2.24m effort,’ said David, with Lewis McGuire clearing 2.15m to equal his indoor PB. her best clearance being 1.84m – as Bethan Partridge took the title – but felt disappointed after being pre-event favourite.

Andrew Murphy, by contrast, was delighted with a third in the pole vault as he equalled his PB with a 5.00m leap after also going over 4.70m and 4.85m.

Murphy had set PBs the previous day in the shot at 14.18m and in the 60m Hurdles with 8.19 seconds.

Kilbarchan athlete Krishawn Aiken has recently had Scottish eligibility confirmed and he took bronze in the Men’s 400m final.

‘It was a tough field and I’ve run some of the races of my life in almost every round,’ he said, with Grant Plenderleith calling off from that race with a hamstring injury.

‘I love indoor racing and to medal in the final shows I’ve done all I needed to do.’

Scottish athletes took nine medals in total with Alisha Rees landing 60m silver on Saturday as Courtney MacGuire finished third in the pole vault.

‘Coming out with no injuries is the main thing. A silver is a good start to the Olympic year so hopefully it’s all go towards Tokyo. It’s every athlete’s dream to be there so let’s see if I can make it happen.’

Philippa Millage went into the British Champs in Glasgow with a point to prove. And she left the familiar surroundings of the Emirates Arena having made it in emphatic style. Jenny Selman was another Scot to walk through the door of opportunity and duly landed a superb silver medal in the Women’s 1500m. Glasgow-based Millage is 39-years-old which, according to some people, is positively geriatric in athletics terms. But she took bronze in the 800m with a solid run. ‘I’m buzzing,’ said Philippa. ‘I knew I was in good shape and I felt comfortable running a personal best in the heats and I felt good doing that. There’s always an opportunity in a championships because you never know what’s going to happen. But never in my wildest dreams did I think there was a medal there. I was running thinking I ‘Oh my god, what’s happening here?’. ‘I knew I was in really good shape but sometimes it doesn’t translate to the track. So it was good. Millage not only set a PB in the heats but that 2:05.70 run was also a British Masters Record for V35. ‘You’d not believe how many people keep bringing up my age, it’s ridiculous,’ she revealed. ‘They tell me I’ll not going to get any quicker now but I think ‘oh really? Watch me’. So I like to prove them wrong. ‘It’s 100 percent a part of my motivation. I’m lucky in that I’ve a coach who is very supportive (Bill Parker) and always tells me that age is just a number and that I deserve to be here. Rich reward for Philippa and Jenny

‘He’s the one who’s got me to this stage and level I’m. I feel like I deserve to be here now.

‘I had all of the Scottish records already but I didn’t have any of the British ones and this was really my last opportunity so that was in my mind,’

Jenny Selman was thrilled to take her silver - by one hundredth of a second - in the Women’s 1500m.

Holly Archer won the race but Selman had to fight hard for first ever British medal and a PB of 4:22.57 gave her the verdict over Jacqueline Fairchild for silver. ‘

I’m really chuffed,’ said the Fife AC athlete, who had seen her club-mates win the National XC at Falkirk the previous day.

‘It’s my first senior GB championship medal and I’m really pleased with that. It was the kind of race that suits me well – slower at the start and then a bit of a burn-up.

‘I was aware of the other athletes and knew I had to fight really hard for a medal so for it to be silver by one hundredth is a great feeling. I’ve had a really consistent year and this is the reward.’