Taylor Campbell (John Pearson; Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow) won the British team’s first athletics medal of the 30^th Summer Universiade in Napoli.

Going in the hammer throw, Campbell started excellently, throwing a personal best of 73.86 metres in the first round to move into silver medal position. It was to be his best effort, nevertheless he also threw 73.64m in round three which yet again exceeded his previous best of 73.40m set in Bedford back in 2017.

He moved into bronze medal position after a final round throw of 74.27m from Serhil Reheda (UKR) moved him into silver medal position behind the eventual winner, Ozkan Baltaci (TUR) who won with a second-round best of 75.98m.

Britain’s Joseph Ellis (Jerry Clayton; Blackheath & Bromley) bowed out of the competition after three throws as he placed ninth overall. 66.27m was his best attempt after one foul in his series.

Having narrowly made it through his heats as a fastest non-automatic qualifiers posting 10.47 (0.0), Adam Thomas’ (Leon Baptiste; Bracknell AC) World University Games journey ended in the 100m semi-finals. He finished seventh in the second semi, crossing the line in 10.62 (+0.4). The 100m title went to Paulo Andre Camilo (BRA) who won in 10.09 (-0.1).

After moving through her 800m heat with ease on Monday, winning in 2:07.66, Mari Smith (Bud Baldaro; Birchfield) was back at it going in the semi-finals on Tuesday evening.

However, it ended in heartache as she narrowly missed out on a place in the final after placing third in her heat, just 0.02 seconds behind Canada’s Jenna Westaway. With the first two in each of the three semis progressing automatically, that spelled the end of Smith’s Games.

In the Decathlon, Harry Maslen (Sam Stanislaus; Ilkley) sits in eighth after day one. He opened with an 11.42 (-0.7) over 100m, before 6.86m in the long jump left him on 1550 points. He ended the morning with a best throw of 11.13m in the shot put, so he sat in 10^th position on 2104 points.

Going into the evening, he cleared 1.85m in the high jump, and ran 50.06 over 400m to leave him on 3586 points.

Earlier on Tuesday morning, Mark Pearce (Luke Gunn; Shaftesbury Barnet) smoothly progressed into the 3000m steeplechase final following a clocking of 8:51.69 for fourth position in his heat, and automatic progression.

The action got underway on Monday, and the first British athlete in final action was Jenny Nesbitt (Chris Jones; Worcester) over 10,000m.

Nesbitt placed eighth overall in 34:27.50, while the race was won by China’s Deshun Zhang in 34:03.31.

Also on Monday, Michael Wilson (Bud Baldaro; Sunderland) was in PB form over 1500m, claiming second in his heat in a time of 3:43.19, to make his way into Wednesday’s final. William Grimsey (Carol Jackson; Woodford Green Essex Ladies) progressed to the men’s high jump final on the same evening, following a comfortable 2.15m clearance.

Results