TEAM Bath AC runner Justin Davies produced a stunning performance at the British Milers’ Club Saucony Grand Prix meeting at Birmingham University over the weekend.
The 19-year-old former Avon Schools athlete slashed over six seconds from his outdoor best, set when winning silver in the senior boys’ 1500m at his final appearance for Avon in the English Schools Championships, with a time of 3mins 43.61secs to finish sixth.
That was reason enough to celebrate for Davies, who is coached by Martin Rush, but as a bonus for Davies it puts him top of the UK Rankings for under 20 men and also within a stride or two of qualifying for the World Junior Championships in Columbia later this season.
The qualifying standard set by UK Athletics for that event is 3mins 43.0secs and Davies will need to do that and then finish in the top two at the trials event to secure his place in the team.
That’s the next goal but for now he is understandably delighted with his first outdoor race of the season.
“I am very happy with that time,” said Davies.
“Okay, I won’t lie it is a tiny bit annoying to miss the qualifying by so little but I was only hoping to get under 3mins 45secs so I cannot be annoyed. It was way beyond what I was hoping for.”