11:12am Thursday 2nd July 2009
By Iain Liddle
Bowerhill athletics starlet Joe Hutchinson helped England to gold at the weekend with a stunning second-place finish in a previously untried event.
The 16-year-old was competing in the World Schools Cup event in Estonia and earned silver in the 110 metre hurdles and bronze in the shot put.
Those points helped England’s men to take first place in the team event and Hutchinson says he learnt a lot from the whole process.
“It was a really good experience and I got a medal,” he beamed.
“I ran 14.24 seconds in the hurdles and was pleased with how I performed, especially considering I’d only had five training sessions before going.
“Multi-eventing includes the 110m hurdles and now I know I can do it on a world level it has given me confidence.”
In the shot put Hutchinson suffered in the unsuitable weather conditions and threw 13.84m.
“It averaged 26 degrees heat for the whole weekend but rained for two hours when I was throwing,” he said. “My PB is 14.74 and to get so close to it in such dire conditions was quite good.”
Hutchinson landed on Tuesday night and returned to training yesterday. He will compete at the English Schools Champion-ships next Friday in Sheffield.
“You can only do the one event there which is a bit of a luxury,” he joked.
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