Katie Snowden set a new Surrey county senior women’s 800m record at the London Diamond League fixture which returned to the Olympic Stadium for the first time since 2019.
The 29-year-old stepped down a distance and surprised many by finishing a superb fifth in a stacked field in which her pre race PB would have ranked her last in the lineup of twelve.
Snowden lowered her PB by 1.72 seconds to clock 1:58.00 and she is ninth on the UK all-time listings. It is the second Surrey outdoor record she has set in 2023 following her 1,500m PB in Los Angeles in May, in addition to a couple of county indoor records in New York back in February.
The time also revises her own Herne Hill Harriers club women’s 800m record she set last year in Poland.
Snowden has now returned to altitude training in St Moritz ahead of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, with her 1,500m heat on August 19.
Harriers’ young sprinters all raced well in the Club Connect sprint relays which gave younger athletes an experience of the big Diamond League stage. The U17 men’s team placed fourth and the U20 men were sixth.
The U20 women’s 4x100m team of Saskia King, Nevaeh Ricketts, Jaydine Robinson and Niyah Costley finished an excellent second in a new club record for their age group of 46.24.
Kristal Awuah produced a strong anchor leg for Great Britain in the senior international 4x100m relays as they were a close third place behind the Netherlands and the USA with 42.59.
Tooting was the scene of the final Youth Development League Lower fixture for U13 and U15 boys and girls on Saturday. Harriers placed second to move out of the relegation positions, finishing third in the final division table.
As with many of these league fixtures the key to strong scoring is to cover as many of the events as possible – an all-round team effort can pay greater dividends than a number of event winners.
The U15 boys age group reflected this with the only Herne Hill winners being 1,500m A and B string runners Caspian Holmes (4:32.4) and Thomas Clerkin (4:32.7).
The U15 girls saw more winners from the Harriers team, although English Schools sprint medallist Ella Rennie had to settle for three second places, in the A 100m (12.5), the A 200m (25.7) and the B long jump (4.66m).
Pyale Wifa was second in the A long jump, with track event winners in this age group being Sophie Jack in the A 1,500m (5:07.90) and Beatrice Maulicino in the B 300m (43.90).
There was a double win in the U13 girls A and B shot from Titailyo Taoreed (9.78m) and Taliah Fleary (8.65m). Fleary won the A discus (21.67m).
In the U13 boys events, Edward Cunniffe (2:23.0) and Zacchaeus Kelman (2:28.4) won the A and B 800m and Nataniel Meek the B 1,200m (4:24.5), with a B string win also being picked up in the U13 girls 1,200m (4:04.2).
Geoff Jerwood