2021 British Athletics Championships
Dates	25–27 June
Host city	Manchester, United Kingdom
Venue	Manchester Regional Arena
Level	Senior
Type	Outdoor
← 2020 Manchester 2022 Manchester → British Athletics Championships

The 2021 British Athletics Championships was the national championships in outdoor track and field for athletes in the United Kingdom, which also served as the main qualifying event for athletics competitors for the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics. In addition, the Championships included a number of parasports events, with a total of 36 competitors in these competitions. On 29 June 2021, UK Athletics announced 65 athletes that would compete for Team GB at the Olympics, taking the total number of British athletics competitors at the Games to 72. In July 2021, four more athletes qualified for the Games based on their World Athletics rankings.

Background

Mo Farah failed to attain the Olympic qualifying time for the 10,000m.

Dina Asher-Smith won the 100m event at the Championships, and also received Olympic places in the 200m and 4 x 100m relay events.

The 2021 British Athletics Championships were held between 25 and 27 June 2021 at the Manchester Regional Arena.^[1] Manchester has the rights to host the Championships from 2020 until 2022.^[2] Due to COVID-19 pandemic related capacity limits, the number of fans were limited to 1,500 per day.^[3]

The Championships served as the trial event for competitors to qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics.^[1] In order to guarantee selection for the Olympics, competitors had to finish in the top two places at the Championships, and also have achieved the Olympic qualification standard. UK Athletics then awarded any unfilled selections with competitors of their choice.^[4]

Olympic qualification for the marathon and 20 kilometres race walk events were determined following a separate trial event in Kew Gardens, London, in March 2021.^[5] A separate 10,000 metres qualification event was held on 5 April in Birmingham, as part of the 2021 European 10,000m Cup.^[6] Typically, the Night of 10,000m PBs event in Highgate, London, is used as the British Championships event for this distance, but that event was cancelled in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[7] After Mo Farah failed to reach the Olympic qualifying standard at the 10,000 metres trial event, UK Athletics decided to organise a one-off event at the 2021 British Athletics Championships, to give Farah a final chance to qualify for the Olympics. The competition contained international runners and pacemakers.^[8]

The Championships also included a number of parasports events. The events included were the 100 metres and 400 metres mixed classes races, as well as shot put, discus, long jump, high jump and javelin field events. A total of 36 athletes competed, some of whom had been included in the British squad for the delayed 2020 Summer Paralympics the previous week.^[9]

For the first time in the 21st century, the British Athletics Championships were not broadcast on live television, as the BBC and UK Athletics did not reach a broadcasting rights deal.^[10] The Championships were instead broadcast on the UK Athletics website and YouTube channel. Several athletes including Dina Asher-Smith were critical of this decision.^[10]

On 29 June 2021, UK Athletics announced 65 athletes to compete for Team GB at the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics, based on performances at the Championships. Including the marathon and 20 km walk competitors, it meant that 72 Britons were chosen to compete in athletics at the Games.^[11] On 2 July 2021, four more athletes were awarded places by World Athletics, based on their rankings.^[12]

Highlights

Pole vaulter Holly Bradshaw won her ninth British title and broke her own national record.

Mo Farah finished the 10,000 metres race in a time of 27:47.04, 19 seconds slower than the Olympic qualification standard.^[13] As such, he failed to qualify for the Olympic 10,000 metres event.^[14]

The women's 800 metres race featured five athletes who had previously attained the Olympic qualifying standard: Jemma Reekie, Laura Muir, Alexandra Bell, Keely Hodgkinson and Adelle Tracey.^[1] Hodgkinson finished first, in a time of 1:59:61. Reekie finished second and Muir was the third finisher.^[15] Muir was initially selected alongside Hodgkinson and Reekie for the Games,^[11] though she later decided not to compete in the 800 metres event at the Olympics, as she wanted to focus on the 1500 metres race. Her place was reallocated to Alexandra Bell.^[16]

Pole vaulter Holly Bradshaw was aiming for her ninth British title, and seventh in a row.^[3] She won the event with a British record of 4.90 metres, beating her own previous outdoor record by 8 centimetres (3.1 in).^[17]

Dina Asher-Smith won the women's 100 metre event. She was originally clocked in a national record time of 10.71 seconds, although this was later corrected to 10.97 seconds, which did not beat the previous record.^[14][18][19] Asher-Smith qualified to compete in the 100 and 200 metres individual events, and the 4 x 100 metres relay.^[11]

Jodie Williams won the 200 and 400 metres races, the first time since 2005 that a woman has won both events.^[14]

The men's 800 metres race was a close finish, with the top three separated by 0.03 seconds. Elliot Giles won the event, ahead of Oliver Dustin and Daniel Rowden.^[15] All three athletes were later selected for the Olympics.^[11]

Results

Key: Q – qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics.^[11]

Men

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres[20]	Chijindu Ujah Q	10.05s	Eugene Amo-Dadzie	10.07s	Jona Efoloko	10.30s PB
200 metres[21]	Adam Gemili Q	20.63s	Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake Q[lower-alpha 1]	20.77s	Jona Efoloko	20.79s SB
400 metres[22]	Niclas Baker	46.05s PB	Cameron Chalmers	46.19s	Michael Ohioze	46.42s
800 metres[23]	Elliot Giles Q	1:45.11	Oliver Dustin Q	1:45.12	Daniel Rowden Q	1:45.14
1500 metres[24]	Josh Kerr Q	3:40.72	Jake Wightman Q	3:40.77	Jake Heyward Q	3:42.41
5000 metres[25]	Patrick Dever	13:37.30	Andrew Butchart Q	13:38.16	Jack Rowe	13:38.81
10,000 metres[26] invitational event	Mo Farah	27:47.04 SB	Zerei Kbrom (NOR)	27:57.63 PB	Félix Bour (FRA)	27:59.31
110 metres hurdles[27]	Tade Ojora	13.38s SB	David King Q[lower-alpha 1]	13.51s	Andrew Pozzi Q	13.54s
400 metres hurdles[28]	Alastair Chalmers	49.98	Alex Knibbs	50.33	Jacob Paul	51.30
3000 metres steeplechase[29]	Mark Pearce	8:24.83 SB	Zak Seddon Q	8:25.08 SB	Phil Norman Q	8:31.87
5000 metres walk[30]	Tom Bosworth	19:25.62 SB	Cameron Corbishley	20:37.69 SB	Guy Thomas	21:31.16 PB
Long jump[31]	Alex Farquharson	7.69m	James Lelliot	7.69m	Reynold Banigo	7.65m
High jump[32]	Tom Gale Q	2.24m	Joel Clarke-Khan	2.21m PB	David Smith	2.17m
Triple jump[33]	Ben Williams Q	16.37m SB	Nathan Douglas	16.20m	Efe Uwaifo	16.06m
Pole vault[34]	Harry Coppell Q	5.70m SB	Adam Hague	5.15m SB	Lazarus Benjamin	5.15m
Shot put[35]	Scott Lincoln Q	20.22m	Patrick Swan	16.98m	Daniel Cork	16.61m
Discus throw[36]	Lawrence Okoye Q	61.71m	Nicholas Percy	60.17m	Greg Thompson	58.31m
Hammer throw[37]	Taylor Campbell Q	75.10m SB	Chris Bennett	73.53m	Craig Murch	70.90m
Javelin throw[38]	Daniel Bainbridge	72.66m	Joe Harris	72.65m SB	Greg Millar	71.90m PB
Decathlon[39]	Tim Duckworth	7447 PB	Lewis Church	7308	Harry Kendall	7249

In addition, Adam Gemili, Zharnel Hughes, Richard Kilty, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, Reece Prescod and CJ Ujah were selected for the men's 4 x 100 metres relay. Niclas Baker, Cameron Chalmers, Matthew Hudson-Smith, Michael Ohioze and Lee Thompson were chosen for the men's 4 x 400 metres relay.^[11]

Other Olympic trials

Key: Q – qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics.^[11]

Notes

References