SEVEN years after winning the senior girls’ 200m at the English Schools’ Championships Emily Diamond
won her first senior international medal at the European Championship in Amsterdam over the weekend.
The 25-year-old Bristol & West AC sprinter from Clifton (pictured left) ran a storing first leg in the 4x400m relay, giving the GB squad a led that they never lost as they raced to a brilliant victory.
The gold medal comes just a few weeks after Diamond, a former winner of the Easy Runner/Bristol Post athlete of the month competition, won the British 400m title to secure her place in the team for the Rio Olympics which was finally confirmed yesterday.
Coincidentally it was also the English Schools’ Championships in Gateshead over the same weekend and while there were no Avon winners this year Diamond’s success is further proof that the schools’ arena is a staging post on the path to glory – it just requires a lot of hard work and persistence.