Goldie Sayers of Great Britain (© Getty Images)
Goldie Sayers broke the UK javelin record with a fabulous final throw as the sun set on the Loughborough International meeting on Sunday.
The 24-year-old winged the javelin out to 65.05 metres, a lifetime best by 3.60m, at the athletics centre she deserted last year in despair at her loss of form.
“It’s a shock but not that much of a shock,” said Sayers, who won the silver medal at the European Winter Throw Cup two months ago. “I knew I was going to throw a personal best because training has been going fantastically well.”
She put her dramatic improvement down to her decision last September to move from Loughborough University back to her family’s home in Ely so that she could be coached by former GB international Mark Roberson, who is third in the all-time UK rankings behind Steve Backley and Mick Hill.
And to emphasise that her sights are now firmly set on the IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan, she added: “I don’t care what I throw for the rest of the year so long as I throw like this when it matters. This is a medal-winning distance.”
Her performance over-shadowed a smooth 4x100m victory in 38.88 seconds by an England squad containing three of the relay gold medallists from the 2004 Olympic Games, Jason Gardener, Marlon Devonish and Mark Lewis-Francis.
Lewis-Francis, whose individual 100m victory at this meeting proved the springboard to his World Junior Championships triumph in 2000, said: “It’s a great start to the outdoor season; that’s a world class time. And it felt comfortable.”
Explaining that they had been at a UK Athletics training camp for the previous two days, Gardener said: “This is reflective of the preparation and commitment we have shown - not just the four of us, but everybody in the squad.”
David Martin for the IAAF