Three records fall at School Games
The athletics competition at the 2018 School Games got underway in style with three games records being broken in Loughborough, David Brown reports.
The England North team enjoyed two 800m victories as Max Burgin, the European under-18 champion, won in the boys’ event in 1:50.00, beating the six-year-old record set by Sean Molloy. The girls’ equivalent saw a record for another under-18 champion in Keely Hodgkinson, with 2:04.89.
Morgan Squibb provided a real highlight for the England South team by breaking the girls’ 1500m steeplechase record by four seconds with 5:01.06.
Other gold medal successes included wheelchair racer Eden Rainbow-Cooper in the girls’ 100m wheelchair race (19.24), javelin thrower Max Law, who missed out on the record by 5cm (73.40m), and European under-18 finalist Ben Pattison in the boys’ 400m (48.08).
At the end of the first day, England South lead the standings:
| Gold | Silver | Bronze | |
| England South | 11 | 13 | 4 |
| England North | 8 | 7 | 8 |
| Scotland | 6 | 6 | 9 |
| England Midlands | 5 | 5 | 7 |
| Northern Ireland | 1 | 0 | 2 |
