Emily lands eighth British Schools’ Biathlon title
5th April 2014
Hampshire athlete Emily Jenkinson won her eighth successive title at the British Schools’ Modern Biathlon Championships at the inspirational setting of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London today (Saturday).
Her performances rounded off an exciting opening day of action at the event, organised by Pentathlon GB – the National Governing Body for the Olympic Sport of modern pentathlon.
It saw almost 800 girls aged nine to 18 tackle a swim in the Olympic Pool and a run at Olympic Park. The boys compete tomorrow (Sunday).
Emily finished second in her first attempt at the championships in 2006, but since then has proved unstoppable.
Second in the 200m swim in the Olympic Pool today with a time of 2:13.81, she followed that up with a 1600m run time of 5:17.56 – enough to see her capture the under-19 title, her eighth successive victory at what is her last year competing at the championships.
“I’m not really sure how I do it, I just train hard,” said Emily, a student at Peter Symonds College in Winchester, who represented Great Britain in the 800m at last year’s World Youth Championships in Ukraine.
“I’ve been running 400m and 800m, so it was a lot harder for me to come back this year and run 1600m. But it was so nice to finish off competing at the championships by winning at Olympic Park.”
The other highlights of the day including a pair of titles for sisters Sabrina and Natasha Sinha.
Sabrina, a pupil at Bromley High School in Kent, won the girls’ under-15 title – her third title in as many years. She then cheered her sister Natasha on to gold in the under-17 competition.
Sabrina said: “The more times you win it the more pressure there is. Running is my strongest point and I knew I needed to go out and get a time in the swim and then try and open up a big gap at the start of the run.
“I could see the Olympic Stadium when I was warming up for the run and I thought of all the athletes I’d seen there on television two years ago. It’s so beautiful and it’s really inspiring to be here.”
It was a fourth successive title for sister Natasha, a student at James Allen’s Girls’ School in London. “It’s really good that we both won. I’m so proud of her, but there was a bit more pressure on me when knew she’d won. I had to put in a sprint finish in the end to win it.”
Laura McNab from Bath Royal High School also completed a hat-trick of successive titles when she took under-13 gold.
She said she’s thriving on the increased distances that the older age groups tackle, after setting the quickest time in her age group in the 1600m run.
“I’m more of a long distance runner, and some of the other competitors are sprinters, so the longer distances are better for me,” she said.
And she said she had a fantastic time swimming in the Olympic Pool.
“I had a really good time today. We couldn’t get tickets for the Olympics, so to be here for the first time and swim where all my heroes swam at the Olympics is amazing.”
The first gold medallist of the championships was Imogen Meers of Bromley High School, who won the girls’ under-12 title.
Imogen said she was surprised and pleased to win after finishing sixth last year. “I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “It was amazing to swim in the Olympic Pool.”
The next winner was Eve Jones in the youngest age group, the under-10s. Eve, a pupil at the Grammar School in Leeds clocked the fastest time in the run and the 13th fastest time in the pool to take gold overall.
“I liked the run most of all, but it was really cool in the Olympic Pool,” she said
Esme Hughes from Ellesmere College in Shropshire completed a double by adding the under-11 title to the British Modern Biathlon Championships title she won in Solihull in November. “
I really enjoyed it today,” she said. “I came to the Olympics to watch Michael Phelps and Rebecca Adlington, so to swim in the same pool is so cool.”
Jane Brown from Central Newcastle High School took the under-14 title after finishing second last year. “I was really pleased with my run today and just to swim in this pool was nice,” she said.
The under-16 girls’ title went to Georgia Hanham of Heysham High School in Morecambe. “I pushed it as hard as I could in both races,” said Georgia, competing who secured her first top-three finish at her fifth time of competing at the British Schools’ Modern Biathlon Championships.
Girls’ team titles went to Manor Preparatory School, Abingdon, Oxfordshire (under-10), St Swithuns School in Winchester (under-11), Cranleigh Preparatory School in Surrey (under-12), Millfield Preparatory School in Street, Somerset (under-13), St Teresa’s School (under-14), Plymouth College (under-15), Coopers Company and Coborn School, Upminster, Essex (under-16), Central Newcastle High School (under-17) and The Thomas Hardye School in Dorchester, Dorset (under 19).
Meanwhile, Olympic diving ace Tom Daley said he found it was great to see so many young people competing at the Olympic Park.
“It’s amazing to have an event likes this here in the Olympic Pool,” said Daley, just after completing a training session at the London Aquatics Centre. “ It’s so inspirational for the kids to have the opportunity to swim in the Olympic Pool.
England footballer Jamie Carragher, former England rugby player Mike Catt and TV cook Mary Berry were among the spectators at today’s competition