Herne Hill Harriers Katie Snowden finished a very good seventh place in the final of the women’s 1500m on Sunday evening in Birmingham at the Commonwealth Games.
Representing Team England, she ran 4:07.15 in a race of two halves, slow for a couple of laps before the winner Laura Muir of Scotland sped up the proceedings and split the field of twelve finalists.
Snowden came away with mixed emotions as although her position roughly reflected her ranking in the field she was a little frustrated not to have finished closer to the medalists.
She told the South London Press: “Coming into the last lap I felt strong again, that’s obviously a great confidence boost, but I let the gap get too big by that point.
“I kept trying to see third place and battle it out for it and I wish I was a bit further up when the first move was made by Laura. It’s kind of ifs and buts.
“In terms of my season so far, it was probably about what was expected but, having said that, I really did feel like a medal was up for grabs. Obviously Laura was the strong favourite but I think it would be difficult to call the rest of the race.
“It kind of feels like a missed opportunity but ultimately, with the amount of preparation I’ve done, it was a fair result.”
Hopes had been quite high after Snowden had placed a very assured and controlled looking second in her heat on Friday morning, but she nevertheless acquitted herself very well at another major championship.
She added: “Seventh is an improvement on the Gold Coast four years ago. If I have another Commonwealth Games, hopefully I’ll jump forward and challenge for those medals next time.”
In terms of the crowd, she added: “I feel really privileged that I’ve managed to run a home games, in front of a home crowd because it’s not something every athlete gets to experience.
“It’s been amazing, particularly in the heats. The cheer on the start line was like something I’d never experienced.”
Having already now reached the semifinals of the World Athletics Championship in Oregon and the final of the Commonwealths she moves swiftly on to next week’s European Athletics Championship in Munich where her 1500m heat will take place on Tuesday 16th August.
Locally the Wimbledon 5000m track meeting on Saturday evening featured a number of very good performances from Herne Hill athletes.
Georgie Grgec was awarded the fastest female of the meeting with her 16:07.30. Julia Wedmore continued her string of big PBs with her third in eight days in 17:51.53.
Henry Brown clocked 17:09.84, M55 Francis Marsh 16:39.35 and M45 Ben Paviour ran 15.54.49, rapid for a man approaching 50 in the coming months.
Brandon Dewar clearly won his race in a PB of 14:53.02, his first sub 15 minute time on the track and in the final race of the night Lewis Laylee recorded 15:07.63.
Geoff Jerwood