May Performance Round Up

Performance Athlete Shona Richards, centre, clears a hurdle in the Women's 400m hurdles race at the 2016 Loughborough International

Alumni showcase at European Rowing Championships:

The Great Britain Rowing Team opened their Olympic season by collecting seven podiums in their first international regatta of the year as alumni anchored several crews’ key performances at European Rowing Championships. Of four former students representing Great Britain at the Championships in Brandenburg, three were successful in returning with medals.

In rough and choppy water it was moment to savour for 2003 Hispanic Studies graduate Frances Houghton and former King's Sport Performance Athlete Dr Zoe Lee (2016, PhD Geography) as their women’s eight crew mastered the conditions over the 2000m course to chase down the leading Netherlands boat in the final moments and claim the European title.

Setting the rhythm and timing in the victorious British boat, stroke-woman Zoe Lee could reflect on an especially successful spring, having in March completed her six-year doctorate on the subject of sand transportation. In so doing she joins fellow team member, Katherine Grainger (2013, Law), in having combined senior level international rowing with PhD research at King’s. The latter, racing in the women’s double, finished just shy of the medals in fourth place, as the blustery conditions continued to provide a major challenge to clean racing.

In the final race of the championships, one final alumnus. Paul Bennett (Computer Science, 2012) was part of a British men’s eight that had won last year's world championship title after fending off Olympic Champions Germany by inches over the finishing line. Selected into the same boat for Brandenburg, but with a new combination of oarsmen around him, Paul would have to settle for 3rd place as his German counterparts turned the result around on home water.

Now back in the UK, the GB Rowing team are preparing for the Lucerne World Cup Regatta at the end of the month, as their build up to the 2016 Rio Games intensifies.

Athletics:

Weekend 14-15th:

Fresh from her winning 200m performance at the BUCS Athletics Championships, Geography student and Great Britain sprinter Laviai Nielsen returned to action in her preferred 400m distance at the Sparkessen Meeting in Ellwangen, Germany, where the 20 year old King's Sport Performance Athlete clocked 52.28s – a time just 0.3s shy of her personal best - to win the event.

Meanwhile, in the steeper surroundings of Snowdonia, second year dentistry student Max Nicholls continued his successful step up in his first season competing at senior level. Having won the under-23 category at the 2015 Fell Running Inter-Counties Championships, Max returned to place 4th overall across all age-groups in this year’s event at the weekend, holding on to his under-23 title once more.

Weekend 21-22th:

It was a busy few days for Laviai Nielsen and Shona Richards as both King's Sport Performance Athletes doubled up to compete in two separate competitions over the weekend. Global health undergraduate Shona opened her season on Friday evening in the women's 400m hurdles race at the Ostrava Golden Spike Meet in the Czech Republic as Laviai took to the streets of the centre of Manchester for the Great City Games. The latter, shown live on the BBC, saw Laviai finish second in a straight line 200m race along Deansgate.

Geography Undergraduate Laviai Nielsen runs the third leg of the 4x400m relay at the 2016 Loughborough International

On Sunday both athletes returned to action at the Loughborough International, with Shona finishing second [video] in the women's guest 400m hurdles, and Laviai pulling through a shaky batton change-over to test her relay credentials as part of a winning Great Britain relay team entry [video] in the 4x400m relay invitational.