Oxford Uni physics student taught himself how to throw in a field during the pandemic but is now the best in Britain

Michael Allison taught himself to throw the javelin by watching YouTube videos and practising in a field during the Covid pandemic. Now, five years later, he has improved his best to 78.48m to win the UK title in Birmingham.

The throw is the best mark at the UK Championships for 13 years and lifts the 21-year-old to 16th on the UK all-time rankings.

In a top quality competition on Saturday (Aug 2) at the Alexander Stadium, Ben East also threw a PB of 77.40m for silver as Daniel Bainbridge threw a PB of 76.86m for third.

A physics student at Oxford University, Allison started with high jump and rugby as a youngster but began throwing the javelin on a football pitch during lockdown with his first competitions for his club, Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow in 2021 – finishing, among other things, fifth in the English Schools Champs.

He met his future coach Tom Dobbing at the UK Javelin Throw Association Javelin Competition later that year and went on to throw at the 2022 World Under-20 Championships in Colombia before winning bronze at the 2023 European Under-20 Championships in Jerusalem.

“I’m absolutely ecstatic,” he said on Saturday, “it’s nearly a two-metre PB but more importantly it’s an 11m season’s best.

“I was ill last season and this year I have been really struggling mentally to get back into it. So, I’ve thrown just under 68 this year and much further in training so I knew it was there. It was just mental. I have been working with a sports psychologist through UKA Futures and I have a really good coach behind me so I’m just happy it all came together on the day.”

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Runner-up East added: “This is the most fun I have had at a UK Champs. Everyone in the crowd was getting involved with the claps, so it was the perfect environment for throwing.”

More articles about the Novuna UK Athletics Champs here.