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- Jake Heyward Smashes It In Oslo. . . And Leaves Steve Cram Trailing
By Owen Morgan
Welsh teenage 1500m sensation Jake Heyward ran a new personal best at the historic Bislett Games Diamond League meeting in Oslo on Thursday night.
The 19-year-old from Cardiff slashed over two seconds off his previous best time of 3:42.12 as he finished ninth in a high class race.
His time of 3:39.84 moves him from 14th to third, ahead of former world record holder Steve Cram in the all-time British U20 list.
The Cardiff University banking and finance student becomes only the third GB U20 athlete to dip under 3:40 for the 1500m.
The race was won by Scotland’s Chris O’Hare in 3:35.96, while third place was taken by 17-year-old Jakob Ingebrigsten, one of the athletes Heyward beat to win the Under-20 European 1500m title in Italy last year.
A little under two weeks ago in Belgium, Heyward gained the qualifying standard for the World Junior Championships which will be held in Finland next month.
Heyward is part of the Cardiff-based Team Thie training group featuring fellow Wales and Great Britain internationals such as Tom Marshall, Ieuan Thomas and Stephen Morris.
Lead coach James Thie, who competed at World Championships and Commonwealth Games, has previously described the Cardiff AAC prospect as “the best Welsh talent, probably ever” in middle distance running.
Thursday night’s meeting saw some of the world’s top athletes taking part, including South Africa’s Olympic and world champion Castor Semenya and Quatar’s high jump world champion Mutaz Essa Barshim.
Great Britain’s Dina Asha Smith set a new British 100m record of 10.92 as she finished runner-up to Ivory Coast’s world indoor 60m champion and 2013 world 100m and 200m silver medallist Murielle Ahouré.
The Bislett Stadium is one of the most iconic venues in world athletics having been the scene of numerous world record performances from the likes of Cram, Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett, Haille Gebreselassie, Said Aouita, Ingrid Kristiansen, Tirunesh Dibaba and Grete Waitz.
