Stratford AC's Sumners shines for England

STRATFORD AC’s Jack Sumners was in sparkling form as a member of the England Schools team in the ISF World Cup for Schools event, in Nancy, France.

The Stratford AC star helped England claim second place, while the England girls won the event.

Having qualified and won one of the coveted six places on the team as the current leading under-17 100m hurdler in the country and the second highest-ranked long jumper, he went into the competition quietly confident of doing well and he duly delivered.

In Sumners’ first event, the long jump, his best jump of 6.85m was good enough for seventh place out of 24 competitors.

This was a perfect way of settling any nerves and anxiety by going through the rigmarole of warming up and going through the call up before the hurdles the following day.

Sumners was drawn in the fastest heat in lane five and “feeling good”, a combination that usually brings out the top competitor that he is.

After a decent start, Sumners was in contention all the way and in a mad dash for the line he finished in third in 13.74s behind athletes from Brazil and Taipei, earning him a place in the final. Later that day, he ran a blistering leg to help the England team to victory.

The weather couldn’t have been more different the following day when torrential rain nearly held the competition up, but the organisers decided to continue and Sumners finished one place better in 13.61, a new PB and only slightly behind the Brazilian.

On his return home, Sumners said: “It was a brilliant experience and I’m really pleased with how I performed.

“Now I’m looking forward to representing England as one of the 25 athletes at the Commonwealth Youth Games in the Bahamas.”

His coach, Paul Bearman, said: “We’re all extremely proud at the club of Jack’s achievements so far and the competition in France and next in the Bahamas are another big step up.

“He is looking very comfortable at this level and his selection is deserved recognition for years of hard graft.”