After the heartbreak on missing out on Paris, 25-year-old puts herself in pole position for Tokyo with furthest throw in championships history

Anna Purchase said she feels “vindicated” by the championships record throw of 72.96m that brought the UK women’s hammer title on Saturday (August 2) and put her in pole position for selection to next month’s Tokyo World Championships.

The 25-year-old was left heartbroken last year when she was one of a group of athletes to be denied Olympic selection under UK Athletics’ controversial policy, despite qualifying to compete under the world rankings system. 

There should be little doubt about her selection this time, however. She is short of the World Athletics qualifying standard of 74.00m but clear of the UKA consideration mark of 71.50m. A successive defence of her national title strengthened her case further, as did that closing throw on Saturday afternoon that was her furthest since 2022 and saw her overhaul the 72.02m from Sophie Hitchon from 2018 that had been the championship record. 

Purchase, who is based in the US and balances her training with full-time hours in a remote sales role for a legal technology start-up, had led from her opening throw of 67.71m before she shot past the 70-metre mark with 70.73m in the third round and reached 70.89m before finishing with the flourish that brought tears to her eyes. A first-round 67.59m gave former champion Charlotte Payne bronze, while Wrexham’s Amber Simpson was third with a second-round 65.64m.

“Last year was really, really tough,” said Purchase, a world finalist at Budapest 2023 who has a PB of 73.02m and still has until August 26 to try to claim that “A” standard. “I feel vindicated. My season’s average is higher than it’s ever been. 

“I feel very overwhelmed at the moment. This type of performance has been building but you often lose a bit of confidence when you don’t throw well for quite a while. It is my furthest throw since April 2022, so to finally get a mark on the board reinvigorates your belief in yourself. I think that is where the emotion came from after that throw.”

One athlete who can be absolutely sure of being on the plane to Tokyo is Molly Caudery, who is starting to find her form in a year that has been interrupted by injury setbacks. 

The former world indoor champion was a commanding winner as she matched her season’s best with a clearance of 4.85m at the third time of asking. It is the second-highest jump in the world this year. Tilly Hooper of Birchfield was second with 4.35m, while a PB of 4.25m gave Felicia Miloro bronze. 

There was hope among the Alexander Stadium crowd that Caudery would turn her attention to Holly Bradshaw’s championship record of 4.90m but, with the year’s big target starting to loom large on the horizon, the Cornish athlete opted to play it safe and bring her day’s work to an end. 

“I have had a few setbacks, so I finally feel a bit like myself now,” said Caudery. “It’s the first time I used my full run-up, so it was really good to get it today alongside auto qualification for the worlds, which is a relief.”

In the women’s triple jump final, Harrow AC’s Adelaide Omitowoju produced a PB of 13.62m (2.0) to land national gold ahead of Shanara Hibbert’s own PB of 13.25m and Silver Nwabuzor (12.90m).

“I have been chasing that distance and more for the whole season,” said Omitowoju. “To do this at the UK Championships is crazy. I jumped two PBs in that competition [also jumping 13.58m], so I was able to build on it and not just get one PB.”

More articles about the Novuna UK Athletics Champs here.