WSEH's Haydock-Wilson helps GB to brilliant bronze in men's 4x400m

Alex Haydock-Wilson. Photo: Getty Images for British Athletics

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Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow’s (WSEH) Alex Haydock-Wilson helped the men’s 4x400m relay team to a brilliant bronze medal on Sunday night, as Great Britain matched its best haul of medals at a World Championships.

Haydock-Wilson got the men’s relay off to a powerful start on the first leg before handing the baton to his teammates Charlie Dobson, Lewis Davey and Rio Mitcham, who held off the attentions of Jamaica to bring the quartet home in third in a time of 2.58.71.

Their podium performance was then matched by the GB women’s 4x400m team of Lavia Nielsen, Amber Anning, Ama Pipi and Nicole Yeargin for another bronze medal, while Keely Hodgkinson stormed home for silver in the women’s 800m as GB secured 10 medals at a World Championships for the first time since 1993.

In the only other individual final on the closing night, WSEH’s Morgan Lake produced the best performance of her career on a world stage as she finished fourth in the women’s high jump final.

The former world junior champion came so close to a maiden senior medal after clearing 1.97m, an outdoor personal best.

In the men’s 4x400m Haydock-Wilson, the individual 400m bronze medallist at last year’s European Championships – led the continental champions out with a superb first leg and the rest of the team held off the attention of the Jamaican’s in particular to finish just 0.26seconds behind France in Silver with the USA winning the event.

Haydock-Wilson said: “We come out here and we know that these are the world’s best. In fact, it wasn’t long ago that all of us were just watching them on TV thinking, ‘man, where would I be in a race like that? – and here we are on the podium in a race like that.”

湖是最后一个英国运动员indiv竞争idually at the Championships and raised the bar from her previous world championship performances. She went clear first time at 1.85m and 1.90m to gain confidence and handled the pressure superbly after that to register the best senior performance of her career. At 1.94m she was drinking in the last chance saloon, remaining composed to clear the bar on her third and final attempt before doing the same again at the next height of 1.97m.

The clearance placed her in the top four with only four athletes remaining. Her first attempt at 1.99m looked great but was a foul and she came agonisingly close to clearing the bar with her second. With the other three athletes having gone clear, it meant she would have stayed fourth had she cleared it on her final attempt, so she opted to pass and attempt 2.01m and narrowly failed with the only chance she was allowed.

Lake said: “It is a bittersweet moment right now, but I think in a few weeks’ time I will look back at this moment and be really proud of this. Fourth in the world is something I am very happy with. I was so close to a medal which stings a bit. But I am so grateful with how the season has panned out.

“Third attempt at 1.94m, third attempt at 1.97m – I think after clearing 1.94m it gave me that confidence for the next jump. Obviously, it is not fun to do third attempts which is something I need to get better at. But I just had that feeling of just staying in the fight. It’s good to know I can perform under pressure as well.”

“我的教练罗比Grabarz做我t. We’ve been working on keeping very calm. If I get a bit overexcited, the run-up goes a bit quick and I miss my mark, everything is rushed. So, every jump I take a breath and relax. It sounds so easy, but I have to trust that is the right thing to do.”