Chalmers goes flat out to get a bronze
Alastair Chalmers now has a quite different national medal to his name.
For the five-time British champion of the long hurdles, his winter foray into flat 400m running culminated in bronze at the weekend’s UK Athletics Indoor Championships.
The Olympic hurdler had entered this season leaving followers guessing how quickly he could run without the barriers – and he certainly impressed with his 46.84sec. personal best in his semi-final in Birmingham.
But he ultimately could not match the pace of 2023 British outdoor champion Alex Haydock-Wilson, a familiar figure with whom he had shared world U20 4x400m relay bronze in 2018.
Chalmers’ confidence showed leading into that final – having also won his heat – and yet he put in a fairly restrained start to hit the break and the bell in fifth.
Flying from the start, Haydock-Wilson hit the lap leading and drove onwards to strike gold in 46.70, but a scrap for silver arose when his race-long combatant Efekemo Okoro tied up.
Watch: Tony Curr caught up with Ala at the start of the year as he prepared for a varied programme in 2025
As Josh Faulds took the initiative to snatch silver in a PB of 46.85, the Guernseyman finished forcefully on the home straight to secure that last podium spot in 47.14.
‘Happy to get on the podium and come away with a PB but wasn’t meant to be for gold,’ the 24-year-old said in a social media post.
‘Looking forward to some 4x400s.’
On Guernsey’s all-time 400m indoors list, only his elder brother Cam has run faster, with Ala’s time allowing him to squeeze past former coach Dale Garland.
Fellow Commonwealth Games athlete Abi Galpin split her attention over both the 400m and the 200m.
Going in her newer venture of 400m racing, she finished just outside her season’s best with a 55.76 run, but that was not enough to progress to the evening semi-finals.
The following day and over the distance where she is reigning Island Games champion, she ran a season’s best of 24.77 for third in her heat and to qualify automatically for the semis.
However, she then withdrew due to a niggle.
