Category Sports News

Dina Asher-Smith and Zharnel Hughes broke competition records in claiming 200m victories at the UK Athletics Championships in Birmingham.

Former world champion Asher-Smith edged the women’s race in a dramatic photo finish, holding off 100m winner Amy Hunt to triumph in 22.14 seconds.

Hughes completed the men’s sprint double as he clocked 19.90 to add to his 100m victory on Saturday.

Athletes needed to achieve a top-two finish, and have met the World Athletics entry standard, to be assured of a place in the squad, to be announced on 27 August.

Olympic 1500m medallist Georgia Hunter Bell won the 800m final to secure a spot in Tokyo, where she could face training partner and Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson.

Max Burgin claimed a dominant win in the men’s 800m, while title favourites Charlie Dobson and Amber Anning earned 400m golds.

World 1500m champion Josh Kerr, already assured of a place in the squad in that event, had time to wave to the crowd in the closing stages of a comfortable 5,000m win.

After dedicating his 100m victory to his aunt, whose funeral he had to miss to be present at the trials, Hughes returned to the track to overpower his rivals and once again assert himself as the UK’s dominant male sprinter.

The British record holder in the 100m and 200m, Hughes followed up his wind-assisted sub-10 on Saturday by breaking Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake’s 200m championship record of 20.05.

After finishing clear of Jona Efoloko (20.42) and Ethan Wiltshire (20.51), world 100m bronze medallist Hughes said: “It felt fantastic. I can go a lot faster.

“My coach will get me much sharper. There’s still more than a month to go.”

Asher-Smith, who chose not to contest the 100m, ran a season’s best to capture the women’s 200m title despite being chased down by the fast-finishing Hunt.

“It was an excellent race. I didn’t know who had got it. The ladies ran amazingly and it bodes well for the relay,” Asher-Smith said.

“I’m in great shape, it was a great run and there are still a few things I can tweak, so I’m happy.”

Olympic 1500m bronze medallist Hunter Bell said she has not decided which event she will focus on at the Worlds, after moving clear of Jemma Reekie on the home straight to win in one minute 59.53 seconds.

“It’s a good problem to have. I have a lot of thinking to do,” said Hunter Bell, who trains with Hodgkinson under coaches Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows.

Burgin, a record-breaking junior, is continuing to build momentum after years of setbacks and led from the start to win comfortably in 1:43.92.

In the absence of Olympic and world 400m silver medallist Matthew Hudson-Smith, Dobson (45.36) was unmatched, while world indoor champion Anning (50.53) held off Victoria Ohuruogu.

Lake claimed her 10th consecutive national title in the women’s high jump with a first-time clearance of 1.87m, before going on to clear 1.90m, while Sawyers continued her return from injury by leaping 6.82m to regain the women’s long jump title.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson continued her heptathlon preparation by competing in the javelin and shot put on day two, having contested the 100m hurdles on Saturday.

The two-time world champion threw a season’s best 41.98m in a javelin final won by Bekah Walton (58.44m), and 12.43m in the shot put, won by Adele Nicoll (17.17m).

Lina Nielsen retained her women’s 400m hurdles title in 55.39, with Tyri Donovan winning the men’s title in 49.18.

Tade Ojora triumphed in the men’s 110m hurdles in 13.34, Phil Norman retained the men’s 3000m steeplechase title in 8:40.47, and Cam Corbishley and Hannah Hopper won the men’s and women’s 5,000m race walks respectively.

Jake Norris (men’s hammer), Zara Obamakinwa (women’s discus), Archie Yeo (men’s triple jump) and Owen Heard (men’s pole vault) were also among the winners.

Sophie Hahn claimed victory in the women’s 100m ambulant in 12.76.

Kieran O’Hara won the men’s 1500m ambulant in 4:03.70, with Kyle Brotherton winning the wheelchair event in 3:56.16.

Ali Carter defeated world number two Kyren Wilson 11-9 to claim the second-place finish at the Shanghai Masters.

After the pair were tied at 9-9, the 33-year-old, who also won the tournament ten years earlier, managed to win two straight frames in a tense finale.

Wilson won the first major competition of the new year’s season, earning a sum of 210, 000.

After Mark Allen withdrew for personal reasons, Carter, who won the event in 2010, only participated in the tournament as a late call-up.

Carter, 46, had broken the previous record by scoring 140 and 90 to make it level again, but Wilson’s 126-run runaway victory was sealed by a clearance of 57.

In Sheffield in April, the 2024 world champion’s Crucible defense defeated Lei Peifan in the first round.

Lando Norris won the Hungarian Grand Prix after Oscar Piastri, a McLaren teammate, came in late to fend off an early attack.

With the two title rivals using different strategies, Norris’ controlled, defensive drive in a tight race reduces his championship deficit to nine points heading into Formula 1’s summer break.

In the final stages, George Russell of Mercedes came out on top, passing Charles Leclerc, as the Ferrari slipped out of contention.

After falling in fifth place on the opening lap, Norris resurrected using a bold one-stop strategy.

With five laps left, Piastri was forced to turn around and come back to him on new tires in the closing stages, leaving him with a tail-butted.

At Turn One, Piastri made two daring dives for Norris’ interior, but the move fell too far back on a track known for being challenging to overtake.

Fernando Alonso used a one-stop approach and masterfully raced to finish fifth overall, which is his and Aston Martin’s best season result.

In his Sauber, his protégé Gabriel Bortoleto did the same and came in sixth.

After the first corner, Norris’ hopes of winning appeared to have waned when he attempted to pass Piastri into the first corner before being forced onto a tight inside line, allowing Russell and Alonso to pass him.

Norris was put on the back foot because overtaking was so challenging.

Leclerc, who had held the lead off the line, was in second place in the standings. Russell finished ahead of Norris, who had just a few seconds to go before Alonso’s Aston Martin.

Leclerc was 2.5 seconds ahead of Piastri when McLaren pitted the Australian at this point, making it seem like they were in control.

Leclerc responded on the following lap with ease and was successful in keeping the position. The idea was to “undercut” the Ferrari.

Norris made the decision at this point to extend in order to offset his own tires, and the plan expanded to include a one-stop.

Norris said, “I didn’t believe it would give us the win,” and that I was aware that it might put us in the lead. I was confident that if there was more fresh air and a little pressure, it might work.

Norris completed his stint on a set of hard tyres in 39 laps, which was extended to lap 31. Andrea Stella, the team’s principal, stated that Norris could achieve the goal because they were initially unsure whether the strategy would work.

Piastri and his engineer negotiated their position at this point, second between the two McLarens, saying he would prefer to bias his approach to give himself the best chance to defeat Norris, and that he didn’t care about the Ferrari.

Leclerc made his second stop on lap 40, while Piastri waited for his five more laps to gain the most control over Norris.

With 19 laps to go, Piastri returned to the track and swept around Leclerc’s tyres to take second place, closing the nine-second gap to Norris, while avoiding taking too much of his tire pressure.

With five laps left, he was within range of the DRS overtaking aid, but Norris managed to keep him at bay.

” I’m dead, “Norris said”. It was difficult. At first, we weren’t really planning on doing the one-stop, but after the first lap, we were kind of the only ones who could get back into things.

“I was pushing out the entire time with Oscar catching me.” Rewarding for that, and today’s ideal outcome.

Piastri remarked, “I pushed as hard as I could.” I knew I would have to overtake Lando on the track, which is much easier said than done here. Simply put, we were on the wrong side of it today.

Leclerc complained about some sort of issue and claimed that they should have listened to him before the race, and he railed at his team for how they had run the race in the final stint.

Team principal Frederic Vasseur said that made a comment about energy management in the hybrid system. Leclerc’s pace then dramatically decreased in the final two frames, giving him a greater sense of vulnerability.

After his pit stop, Vasseur claimed that he had a problem with his car, and he was unsure as to what caused it.

With ten laps left, Russell stopped for the final time and closed in on the Ferrari.

With nine laps left, Russell made a second attempt and complained that Leclerc was moving while braking. He complained about Leclerc’s driving once more and the Ferrari driver was given a five-second penalty for erratic driving.

Alonso kept his tyres in tact while the car was fueled up in the early laps, keeping up with the rest of the field.

He then increased his pace to close the gap left by Bortoleto, stopped at lap 39, and waited until the finish line.

Aston Martin moves up to sixth place in the constructors’ championship, one point ahead of Sauber, with team-mate Lance Stroll’s similarly driven drive to seventh place.