Joel decathlon joy in America amid raft of strong performances

Monday 9th June 2025

American-based Combined Events athlete Joel McFarlane made a big breakthrough over the weekend.

Joel tallied the excellent figure of 7548 points in his latest decathlon event in the States.

And that is beyond the 7516 points being asked as a qualifying mark for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games next year.

There are already a number of signs of athletes stepping up to hit the marks being asked and that’s beneficial for the sport as a whole.

Megan Keith had a tough night in the Rome Diamond League but her 5000m time of 15:16.91 was inside the Glasgow 2026 standard for the distance.

Nikki Manson went to the Commonwealths in Australia in 2018 in the High Jump and made a welcome return in the Scottish National League meeting at Grangemouth – this time in the sandpit.

Nikki leapt to a big outdoor PB of 6.30m in the Long Jump and is expected to next compete at the Welsh Champs. The Games standard for Women’s Long Jump is 6.48m.

In Men’s Long Jump, Stephen Mackenzie had a superb season opening leap at 7.87m – only two cms away from the Games standard.

There were some good results in the Birmingham BMC meet, too. Peter Bradshaw came up with the best steeplechase performance since 2014 with 8:46.50 for the Men’s 3000m Steeplechase.

And Millie McClelland-Brooks went fifth all-time for U20 5000m with 16:24.31.