Sporting Agenda is proud to continue to sponsor javelin thrower Ben East for yet another year.
Ben is excelling in his sport at a young age and we are certain that his talent and discipline will take him even further.
During his last season as a Junior U20, Ben:
· earnt his England vest, winning the ETC throws festival;
· earnt his GB vest – going to the U20 World Championships in Cali, Columbia;
· finished 2nd in the British Championships (a Senior competition), setting a lifetime best throw of 73.49m.
He ended the season as:
· U20 UK number 1;
· 8th in the UK all-time U20s;
· UK number 5 (Seniors);
· 14th in the World U20 rankings – quite a phenomenal year!
AND, he was nominated for Athletics Weekly Readers’ Choice Junior Athlete of the season! What an accolade for his hard work and dedication to javelin and athletics.
This has been an even bigger year for Ben. He has moved up to the U23 age group and now competes with seniors on a regional, national and international stage.
In June, he won the U23 English Championships in Chelmsford with a new personal best throw of 74.03m, winning by an impressive 11m. Then, on 9th July 2023, he won the British Senior Javelin Championships in Manchester, with a throw of 72.97m, aged just 19. He dominated the competition, leading from the very first throw. No one was able to beat any of his 6 throws: it was an emphatic victory. In August, he went to Poland to compete in a lower tier of the Diamond League for the first time, finishing fifth; amazing experience for him.
But Ben considers this to be a developmental year as he is presently juggling an intense training programme alongside his second year of a Mechanical Engineering degree at Loughborough University. In fact, to enable him to train to his full potential and study more effectively, his degree course has been stretched from 4 years to 6. He feels this will give him a greater opportunity to be the very best he can in both his studies and the javelin. Learning to live away from home and balance university life, studying and all the new challenges he’s faced whilst maintaining his training and fitness routines, Ben’s had to be very disciplined and make sacrifices, but he has still achieved wonderful success this year.
Ben is still a member of Team Kennet, based in Greenham, Newbury - coached by Luke Angell at Team Kennet and Dave Turner at Loughborough. He also holds the U15 UK Javelin record, being the first person in the UK ever to throw over 70m, aged just 14 years.
Ben has also been improving his nutrition and learning about a wholistic approach to health and fitness – visualising success as well as ‘problems’ to help build his resilience and motivate him further. He is currently on the Senior Talent Pathway, run by UK Athletics, and has worked with Steve Backley (reigning UK javelin record holder) in Master Classes, held at Loughborough University.
Comments