Talented Teesside athletes celebrate medal haul

University of Teesside students are celebrating after winning a clutch of medals at the British University Championships.

The seven-strong team who travelled to the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield to compete in this high profile national sports competition each secured a place in the finals of their respective event.

They also brought two gold, a silver and two bronze medals home from the championships, which were held over four days and involved 20 sports.

High jumper Lloyd Powell, 20, of Yarm, secured gold after clearing all heights at first attempt up to and including 1.95 metres.

Lloyd, a second year BSc (Hons) Software Engineering student who is now setting his sights on jumping 2.10m in order to qualify for the Olympic trials, said: ‘It is a high profile competition and we didn’t really expect to do half as well as we did. We expected to win one or two medals.

‘It was great that everyone reached the final in their event,’ he added.

Middle distance runners Ricky Stevenson, 19, of New Marske, won gold in the 3,000-metre event while Jonathan Taylor, 20, of Middlesbrough, won bronze.

Triple jumper Ade Babatunde, 20, from Middlesbrough, won bronze and Qaasim Hussain, 18, of Middlesbrough, won silver in the karate competition.

The other team members who celebrating reaching the finals of their event were Faye Winspear, 19, of Middlesbrough, in the women’s 60m sprint and Sophie Gibbens, 22, of Milton Keynes, in the high jump.

Matthew Wright, Sports Development Officer (Elite), in the University’s Student Services, said: ‘This is a fantastic achievement at such a major event. These athletes represent the growing quality of sportsmen and women at the institution and with state of the art facilities and expertise here on Teesside, these are exciting times for performance sport.’

He added the University runs an elite bursary scheme to support top athletes.

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