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Norfolk champion Johnson claims silver in Birmingham

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Rebecca Johnson is celebrating after a stunning silver in the English Schools’ Track & Field Championships in Birmingham.The 14-year-old, from Lynn, has enjoyed the most fantastic season so far and continued that trend with an impressive display to finish on the podium at the Alexander Stadium.Speaking about her silver, Johnson said: “At the time it did not sink in on what I achieved. However, it feels good that I made everyone proud, especially my parents.”My coach was also watching me and cheering me on in the final which made me want to do even better and push myself.”Once I finished, I was delighted that I did the best I could and went out of my comfort zone.”Johnson was selected for Norfolk as part of a 25-person squad in the 75m hurdles, winning the Norfolk Schools’ event and finishing second at the Anglian Schools Championships.Her best time going into the race was 11.53sec, well within the 11.9sec entry standard, and she was ranked 12th in the UK going into the prestigious competition. On the opening day, the youngster qualified for the final with a time of 11.64sec finishing in third place and was awarded a final spot as one of the non-automatic qualifiers. The final itself took place on day two and Johnson did more than just finish second.She produced a perfect performance to record a personal best time of 11.38secs, following an electrifying start, to finish just a tenth of a second behind the winner.Conditions were tough with a 2.5m/s headwind and she was the only athlete to get a PB. West Norfolk Athletic Club hurdles coach John Greenhalgh said “Bec shows great desire and dedication to training and seems to know how to peak at the right time.”The teenager was full of praise for her coach Greenhalgh. “I just train and train till I get better and improve every time,” she said.”The only thing is that my coach is really understanding, and just helps me with anything I need. “I was struggling to fit my strides in between my hurdles but as soon as I told my coach he gave me exercises to do and try to move my legs quicker in between them.”He also suggested thinking of them as train pistols to make me go faster which helped a lot as sometimes is not about physical training, it’s also mental.The KES Academy pupil is determined to continue her improvement over the remainder of the summer.”My aim going forward is to just try to get quicker and to get my time down to 11.3s,” she said. “I have got a lot more competitions coming up so I just want to focus to try and improve even more.”Johnson’s day wasn’t done as she also competed in the mixed 4x100m relay. The team qualified for the final and in the end finished in fifth place.Downham Academy student Charlie Broad, another West Norfolk Athletic Club member, was also part of the team.Broad is a first-year under 17 and an Inter-boy athlete and finished tenth in the shot put with a 12.57m put.He was pleased with the experience although disappointed to just miss out on the cut for an extra three throws. Also, Senior athlete Lucy Edwards fought through a slight injury to gain a well-earned silver in the long jump at the Eastern Counties Championships in Cambridge.Edwards recorded a 5.03m leap in the second round which was her second furthest jump of this season so far.



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