Matthew Johnson (Dewsbury) was the star of the show for Team GB’s swimmers as he won two of the four medals on day one of the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF). The 16-year-old came away with 200m medley gold before helping fellow Brits Matthew Watkinson (Worksop), Oliver Leonard (Bracknell) and Karl Morgan (Nottingham) win 4x100m freestyle relay silver. And they were joined on the podium by Nathan Theodoris, who won 200m backstroke gold, and Siwan Thomas-Howells (Swansea) who won 400m freestyle bronze. “I would have liked to have had two golds from the first day but to come away with a gold and a silver is still good going and a good start to the week,” Johnson said. “I swam a new personal best of 2:05.35 minutes in the medley which is a PB by nearly three seconds so that was great. “I left it late and the Russian that finished second dug deep and pushed me all the way but I just thought I would swim my own race and not worry about him and it worked out great. “Swimming that fast straight away gives me confidence for the rest of the week and I am now hoping that these two medals won’t be my last of the week. “I am now full of confidence for the rest of the week and can’t wait to get back out there again.” Shauntelle Austin (Preston) who competed in the 100m butterfly and Jessie Foster (Trowbridge) in the 200m breaststroke finished 7th and 8th respectively. The girls 4x100m freestyle relay team of Harriet Cooper (Leicester), Emma Day (Woking), Siwan Thomas-Howells, Ellena Jones (Swansea) narrowly missed out on a medal finishing in 4th. Manchester 16-year-old Clovis Asong broke the 400m competition record for the EYOF when he cruised to an easy win in the heats today. After the talented youngster had clocked 46.74sec, he said: “It felt easy. It didn’t feel that fast but it was the fastest I’ve ever gone by about three hundredths. “I just ran my own race and had no idea where the other athletes were. In the final I want to go a lot faster over the first 200 and see what happens.” His performance was not the only highlight at the athletics arena for GB on Monday. Bracknell’s Sophie Papps set a new personal best and was fastest of 25 athletes in qualifying for the girls 100m. She clocked 11.77sec to beat her old record by 0.01sec and book her place in the semi finals. Also qualifying for the next round was Leon Reid from Avon, who celebrates his 17th birthday while out in Turkey on the 27th. His time of 10.80sec was fourth fastest in the boys 100m. And Rachel Dickens from Westerham reached the final of the girls 400m with a time of 55.21sec, sixth fastest. Over longer distances, Weymouth’s Ben Westhenry placed eighth in the 200m steeplechase, while Halina Rees from Crail was 12th in the equivalent girls’ event. And Wolverhampton’s Ben Pearson was 14th in the discus, narrowly missing out on qualification.
Under the scorching sun on the courts of the Bersli Tennis Complex GB’s tennis players began their festival competing in the singles competition.
Sabrina Federici (Bolton) made light work of her first round opponent but struggled in her second round match against the 11th seed Justina Mikkulskyte who was eventually too strong, winning in straight sets. Federici competed well and will take a number of positives into the doubles which start with partner and fellow Brit Hollie Davies (Harlow) later tomorrow. Josh Paris (Highgate) and Lewis Roskilly (Stevenage) both breezed through to the second round of the boys’ singles. Unfortunately Paris was drawn against the number one seed, who was stronger on the day and beat him 6/2 6/2.
Roskilly battled his nerves and the heat in his second round match against Shota Meparidze from Georgia the number six seed to win 6/3, 6/4, a great win in extreme conditions battling heat and wind to come through.
Speaking after his match Roskilly said; “My second match was definitely tougher, it was very hot and at times I struggled with the heat. I think I struggled a bit mentally because of the heat as I haven’t played in this temperature for a while.
“Going into my third round match tomorrow I know there is lots I can improve on from today. I will go back to the village, regroup with my team and talk to my coach to set out my strategy. I am really looking forward to the challenge tomorrow.”
Team GB in Action - Tuesday 26th July
Ahletics - Söǧütlü Track and Field Stadium
Boys Long Jump - Elliot Safo Girls Discus - Shadine Duquemin Boys 110m Hurdles - James Taylor Girls 100m Semi-Final/Final– Sophie Papps Boys 100m Semi-Final/Final - Leon Reid Girls 800m - Abbie Hetherington Boys 800m - Robert Needham Girls 3000m - Alice Wright Boys Discus – Benjamin Pearson Boys 3000m - Gordon Benson Girls 400m Semi-Final- Rachel Dickens Boys 400m Semi-Final- Clovis Mbaken
Cycling - Rize Highway
Boys Time Trial - Tao Geoghegan Hart, Christopher Lawless, Jacob Scott
Gymnastics - Yomra Cimnastik Salonu
Boys Artistic Gymnastics Team Final- Frank Baines, Courtney Tulloch, Dominick Cunningham
Judo - Of Sports Centre
Girls -44Kg Preliminaries/Final – Hayley Willis Boys -50Kg Preliminaries/Final- Keiran Gehlan Boys -55Kg Preliminaries/Final – Samuel Hall
Swimming - Mehmet Akif Ersoy Swimming Complex
Boys 400m Freestyle –Matthew Johnson Girls 100m Freestyle – Siwan Howell-Thomas Boys 100m Butterfly - Mark Szarnek Girls 200m Backstroke - Shauntelle Austin Boys 200m Breastroke – Jack Smith Girls 200m Medley – Emma Day Mixed 4x200m Freestyle Relay – M.Johnson, A.Dunk, S.Thomas-Howells, E.Jones Tennis - Bersli Tennis Complex
3rd round singles - Lewis Roskilly 1st round doubles - Sabrina Federici, Holly Davis , Lewis Roskilly, Josh Paris