‘On Camp with Kelly’ athlete Alison Leonard (Blackburn Harriers) performed brilliantly at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic, on Sunday 15 July, winning the silver medal in the 800m in 2:05.36.
Alison actually finished in bronze medal position in the race but was promoted to silver following the disqualification of Winny Chebet (Kenya), who had finished one hundredth of a second ahead of her, for obstruction. The winner was Mirela Lavric of Romania in 2:04.29 with Cuba’s Juana Ivis Mendez taking the bronze in 2:05.42.
American Chanelle Price led through the bell in a very fast 58 seconds as the rest of the field bunched and bumped behind her. As they came into the home straight seven athletes were fighting it out for the medals. Alison found herself boxed in but managed to free herself and with 20 metres left had battled her way into a medal position, just failing to overhaul Chebet in the lunge for the line.
Alison finished with a cut on her left shin and exhausted in temperatures which reached 35°C, but after receiving medical attention she expressed her delight with the result:
“It’s fantastic, just fantastic. I’ve never been to an international championship before so to get a medal is amazing. I wanted to get, say, top six. But I was dreaming of a medal. I’ve just been more relaxed at these championships, I just kept relaxed and let it come.
“I thought Price would go hard. I wanted just to stay in touch. I don’t think I have ever been through the bell in under 60 seconds before! And I’ve never heard a crowd like it before!”
Alison also expressed her gratitude to Dame Kelly and ‘On Camp with Kelly’, supported by Norwich Union: “‘On Camp with Kelly’ paid for my coach, Arthur Almond, to come out here with me and that is just about the best thing that Kelly could have done.”
Alison had progressed well through the rounds. She won her heat easily in 2:07.45 and then took second in her semi-final in 2:07.84.
