Joy in Jerusalem as four Scots land medals at European U18 Champs

Friday 8th July 2022

Paige Stevens and Tendai Nyabadza both landed individual bronze medals at the European U18s (photos via British Athletics)

Results from Israel

Four Scots came home with medals from the European U18 Championships in Israel – with a seven-strong cohort representing British Athletics.

It was bronze medal joy in Jerusalem for thrower Paige Stevens as the Falkirk Vics athlete landed a big PB final round in the shot put before Harmeny AC’s Tendai Nyabadza then took third in the Men’s 1500m final.

Rebecca Grieve was also on the podium as she joined her GB and Ni team-mates in taking gold in the Women’s Medley Relay in the penultimate event of four exciting days in Israel.

And Dean Patterson finished off his hectic week with a bronze in the Medley Relay final (after a DQ decision against Denmark elevated the British boys).

All seven Scots in fact delivered good performances – six contesting individual finals – and gathering valuable international experience in their mid teens along the way.

It is important to remember these are young, developing athletes on the pathway (hopefully) working towards Senior succes.

We send our warm congratulations to all of them and their families, coaches and clubs.

Here’s a summary of the performances . . .

*Paige Stevens led the Scottish charge with a superb performance in the shot put final on Tuesday afternoon.

The Falkirk Vics athlete, only ranked 11^th prior to the championships, came up with a PB throw to progress from the qualifying round. Then, in the final itself, Paige complete her series with a sixth round PB of 16.69m which pushed her from fourth and onto the podium for a precious bronze medal.

Well done to Paige, her family and coach Alison Grey.

*Tendai Nyabadza also won bronze in the Men’s 1500m final. The Harmeny AC athlete progressed from the heats on Monday as well as Corey Campbell of Team East Lothian.

In the final, Tendai came up with a strong run to contest the medals and fought hard for third in 3:52.47. Corey was not too much further back to make it two Scots in the top six.

Well done to both athletes and their families and coaches Andy Ross (Tendai) and Alister Russell.

*Libby White was in field action like Paige on Monday and Tuesday.

The Ayr Seaforth athlete leapt out to an outdoor PB performance of 12.43m to progress from the qualifying round and then duly finished in 11^th place in the final with a solid 12.33m jump.

Well done to Libby, her family and coach David Watson.

Rebecca Grieve and Dean Patterson celebrate relay medal success (photo by Allan Scott)

*Dean Patterson made it all the way to the Men’s 200m final with strong runs in his heat and his semi-final.

And the Glasgow School of Sport athlete was very much in contention for a medal as he posted 21.39 to miss out on third place by only five hundredths to his Polish opponent. Sadly, Dean’s performance was then subject to a DQ decision.

Come Thursday evening and Dean raced again with a 300m leg for the Medley Relay – as the British men came in fourth but then made the podium with three teams disqualified including (third-placed) Denmark.

Well done to Dean, his family and coaches Norrie Hay and David Watson on a strong week in Jerusalem.

*Oliver Patton is not 16 until September so the Kilbarchan AAC athlete must have been one of the youngest of any competitor in Jerusalem.

In that context, reaching the 2000m steeplechase final looked a big ask but Oliver delivered on that with a strong run at 5:57.83 in his heat on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the final 48 hours later was harder as he finished in 15^th.

Well done to Oliver, his family and coach Robert Hawkins.

*Rebecca Grieve became the third Scot to come home with a medal via the Women’s Medley Relay.

Rebecca featured in the heats and then the British quartet were in superb form to set a European U18 Record of 2:07.18 to take the golds from Italy and Spain.

Well done to Rebecca, her family, and coach Francis Smith.