Izzy Jeffs secured Loughborough’s first gold in her first ever BUCS on Saturday morning of the BUCS Outdoor Athletics Championships.
Jeffs, who set a championship record in the javelin in her qualifying round on Friday night, threw 53.26m on Saturday morning to secure LSAC’s first medal of the championship.
The gold medallist told Label that she was “quite happy” with Friday’s throw saying, “I didn’t know what it was, so when I saw, I was like oh that’s nice.”
Despite winning her qualifying round comfortably, Jeffs admitted there were still nerves before her appearance in the final:
“I was probably a bit more nervous today because it was obviously the final and i always get really nervous but i had a big first throw so that sort of went down a bit.”
Jeffs will now turn her attention to the Loughborough International Athletics on Sunday May 20.
In the same event, LSAC club chair Sophie Thomas finished fifth and Eloise Meakins sixth.
Thomas explained to Label:
“It’s just another competition. It’s just a normal competition for us at the moment because we haven’t really got the impact of the stadium yet. I think tonight will be a lot different, I’ve got the shot final at five and its likely to be quite packed by then so we’ll see what happens.”
An estimated 40,000 spectators are expected in the Olympic Stadium later on today, and Thomas admitted she was hopeful it wouldn’t affect her later this evening:
“Possibly (helpful) athletics crowds are always quite small so it’s going to be a bit strange with that many people take everything in our stride. I’m pretty apprehensive about it at the moment. my qualifying didn’t go too well we’ll see how it goes, i’ve got five hours so we’ll see how it goes.”
Thomas will be back in action later this evening in the Shot Put final which takes place at 5pm.
