Trail To Tokyo: Birtley trio to make boxing history at European Championships

The North-East threesome have been selected as part of a 13-strong GB Boxing squad for the European Boxing Championships, which begin in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv tomorrow.

The fighters have trained together under Birtley club coach Graeme Rutherford since the age of 12, and lightweight French believes their competitive spirit will continue to lift them all the way to the top.

The 21-year-old, who is one of the rising stars of the British amateur scene, is currently on a run of 34 straight wins, including 15 since his elevation to the full-time GB squad at the end of last year.

“There is definitely something special going on at Birtley at the moment,” said French. “We grew up sparring together and right from the start it was all about winning titles and spurring each other on.

“We used to talk about what it would be like to go to the junior worlds together, or get on the GB squad, and now all three of us are looking towards the Tokyo Olympics.”

Pat McCormack is one of two remaining Rio Olympians to be named in the squad, along with Birmingham light-flyweight Galal Yafai.

McCormack has moved up to welterweight since fighting in Brazil, and admits he struggled to take a break from the sport even though he was bitterly disappointed at missing out on a medal.

He was unbeaten in last year’s World Series of Boxing event, and has strong hopes of claiming a medal from this month’s Europeans, having previously claimed a European silver medal at light-welterweight in Samakov, Bulgaria, in 2015.

“I tried to take time off, but I was always in the gym keeping myself in shape,” said the 22-year-old, who lost to Cuban Yasniel Toledo in his second-round bout in Rio. “I can't stay off it for more than a week or I feel like a bum.

“It’s just the way it’s always been at Birtley - you always want to get back in there and keep improving.

“I have been to an Olympics and boxed the best in the world, so now I don’t feel any pressure and am going to this tournament feeling confident. I thought I did enough to win the gold medal at the last Europeans, but it was not to be, so this time I am looking to go one better.

“I have moved up to welterweight since Rio, but competing at a bigger weight is not a problem. I have already grown into the weight and won my first competition as a welterweight, where I was named boxer of the tournament.

“Having three of us from Birtley at the European Championships is great for the club, and good for us. Whenever we have competed together in the past, at national tournaments, we have always come away with medals, so hopefully it will be the same again this time.”

McCormack’s twin brother, Luke, missed out on a place in the squad for the Olympics, but says the experience of going to Rio to assist with the pre-Games training camp served as a valuable lesson. Like his brother, Luke believes he is now ready to reap the benefit of moving up in weight.

“Not making the team for Rio absolutely devastated me, and I vowed I'll never go anywhere as a sparring partner again,” he said.

“I feel like a different fighter at light-welterweight. I wasn't enjoying it - I was going out running in the morning, starving myself with a sweat-suit on.

“Since I moved up, I've been enjoying double breakfasts, double dinners, the lot, and I feel like I'm boxing really well.”

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LAURA WEIGHTMAN’S strong start to the outdoor athletics season continued as she recorded the second-fastest 1,500m time of her career at the IAAF World Challenge Meeting in the Dutch town of Hengelo.

Despite having her funding removed last autumn, Morpeth Harrier Weightman has put herself at the forefront of a clutch of female middle-distance runners who will hoping to make the British team for this summer’s World Championships in London.

She posted a time of 4:01.95 as she finished fourth in Hengelo, with her performance all the more notable because of the strength of the field she was up against.

Sifan Hassan was victorious in a time of 3:56.14, but Weightman beat a trio of top-class African runners to confirm her well-being ahead of the World Championships trials which are due to begin at the end of the month.

Northallerton’s Marc Scott should also be lining up in those trials, and the US-based distance runner recorded one of the best performances of his career last weekend as he claimed a gold medal at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon, the highlight of the US collegiate calendar.

Scott triumphed in the 10,000m final, successfully controlling the 25-lap event before breaking clear with a perfectly-timed burst in the final 400m to claim victory in 29:01.54.

Scott was one of three British champions in the NCAA Outdoors, with Charlotte Taylor and Josh Kerr also winning gold medals.

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NORTH YORKSHIRE eventer Nicola Wilson finished eighth in last weekend’s Equi-Trek Bramham International Horse Trials.

Wilson, who was an Olympic silver medallist at the London Olympics, partnered experienced 15-year-old One Two Many in the top CCI three-star section, and posted a dressage score of 50.4 to leave herself in 28th position after the first discipline.

Overnight rain added to the difficulties of Ian Stark’s redesigned 40-fence cross-country course, but Morton-on-Swale’s Wilson showed why she is ranked the second-highest woman event rider in the world when she completed the only clear cross-country round in the CCI section.

To the dismay of her fans, Wilson and One Two Many toppled the first fence in the show-jumping, scuppering her chances of overall victory, and a second pole on the ground left her with eight faults and a finishing position of eighth.

The CCI three-star section was won by Japanese eventer Yoshiaki Oiwa, riding his own gelding Calle 44.

The ten-year-old horse, which is aimed at the Tokyo Olympics, clocked up only 2.4 time penalties in the cross-country, and claimed victory when recording a seemingly effortless clear in the show-jumping.