Ellie Baker broke the championship record to win gold in the women’s 1500m at the UK Athletics Indoor Championships 2023 in Birmingham on Sunday. The 24-year-old put in a stunning performance, finishing in a time of 4:06.73 minutes to break Zola Budd’s record from 1986.
Baker’s victory in the women’s final was perhaps the highlight of the weekend, with Katie Snowden and Erin Wallace also competing strongly. Read More: Femke Bol smashes World Indoor 400m record
As the runners entered the final lap, Wallace fell behind, leaving Baker and Snowden to battle it out. Baker held on impressively to cross the finish line in first place, with Snowden also securing her European indoor place with a time of 4:06.98.
In the men’s 1500m final, Neil Gourley delivered a class act performance on his way to securing his European indoors place. George Mills set the pace with three laps to go, but Gourley joined him before taking the lead on the back straight of the final lap.
Gourley produced an impressive kick to win the race with a time of 3:41.20, while Mills finished second in 3:42.87 and securing his spot on the British team for Istanbul.
Blake Moore took the bronze medal with a time of 3:47.74 for a season best.
Gourley was pleased with his performance and is bracing for the challenge that lies ahead of him at the European Indoors.
“It was nice and controlled and I was happy with the way I closed the last 150 metres,” Gourley said. “I am not one to ever take indoors too lightly. Obviously the focus is on outdoors and we’ve been training as such.
“But there’s no reason why I can’t give a really good account of myself at European Indoors and try and win that race – that’s the objective. That will be a good challenge with who is competing.”
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