Alison sets personal best at World Junior Championships

11:29am Monday 14th July 2008

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Chorley's Alison Leonard set a new personal best time of 2:02.15 to finish fourth in the 800m final at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, on Friday.

The 800m final was taken out at a blistering pace from the gun by Turkish athlete Merve Aydin, the quickest in the field after clocking 2:00.33 last weekend, who reached 200m in 27.05 seconds.

At the break Alison was in third position on the shoulder of Elena Mirela Lavric from Romania, who beat her to the gold medal at the last year’s World Youth Championships and is also the reigning European Junior champion.

At the bell, which was passed in a very quick 57.28 seconds, four athletes were away with Kenya’s Winny Chebet behind the front three.

The positions remained the same around the final lap with Alison still running strongly.

At the start of the home straight Alison moved out to make a move but was unable to go with the acceleration of the leaders. Lavric passed Aydin in the closing stages to take gold in a new championship best performance of 2:00.06, three seconds faster than she had ever run before, to Aydin’s 2:00.92.

In the last stages of the race Alison was agonisingly passed on the line by fast finishing Machteld Mulder, last year’s European Junior bronze medallist, who also set a new personal best of 2:02.05.

A disappointed Alison said: “I felt good until the last 100m, then my legs went dead with 50 metres to go. Tonight all I can think about is missing out on a medal, tomorrow I will see it as a PB.”

Alison is one of 45 talented young female middle distance athletes who are benefiting from double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes’ ‘On Camp with Kelly’ mentoring initiative, supported by Norwich Union.

Dame Kelly, who was watching the race, said: “I am very proud but also extremely disappointed for Alison as I know how much she wanted this title.

“The race went off at a blistering pace, in fact as quick as senior athletes run.

"Having not raced at that level before it was always gong to be hard for Alison to assess what her best race tactics would have been.

"She showed guts and determination which are great attributes to her and I am sure she will take this experience away to help her grow in the future.

"Her coach Arthur Almond has worked extremely hard to get Alison’s preparation right and knows that Alison does not over train so has a long future ahead of her.

“I am disappointed for her but I don't think she could have given any more than she did. So well done to her!”

Alison was a comfortable qualifier from her heat on Tuesday, finishing third in 2:08.26, and won her semi final on Wednesday in 2:04.07.

Alison is one of four ‘On Camp with Kelly’ athletes competing at the IAAF World Junior Championships.