On January 11-12, 2025, the South England Athletics Association (SEAA) hosted the indoor U13, U15, and U17 athletics championships, covering a region from Cornwall to Norfolk. Numerous promising young athletes gathered at the event, leading to incredibly fast times.
Several Personal Bests for Young Athletes
Farrell Fabusiwa and Annabelle Fasuba, two young British athletes, represent the promising future of sprinting in their country, each impressing with extraordinary performances at a very young age.
At just 16 years old, Farrell Fabusiwa recently made a mark by winning the U17 60 meters title at the South of England Championships with an astonishing time of 6.75 seconds. This time propels him to third place in the all-time UK rankings for this category, just behind a legend: Mark Lewis-Francis, as well as Divine Iheme and Joel Masters, aged 15 and 17, respectively. The possibility of these three young sprinters passing the baton to one another in future British 4×100 meter relays is exciting.
Annabelle Fasuba, on the other hand, continues to make waves in the U15 category at only 13 years old. She inherits an incredible athletic legacy from her parents: her father, Olusoji Fasuba, a former African 100 meters record holder, and her mother, Ngozi Nwokocha, a specialist in the 400 meters.
As early as December, Annabelle smashed her personal best at the Lee Valley Athletics Centre with a time of 7.66 seconds, becoming the fastest U13 in UK history, surpassing a record set in 1975. A few weeks later, she won a senior indoor title against much older athletes, confirming her maturity and exceptional talent. Additionally, she already holds UK U15 records for both 100 and 200 meters, with performances worthy of higher age categories.
If she continues on this trajectory, her name could soon be among the world’s top sprinters, further highlighting the amazing talent emerging in British athletics. But last weekend, she managed to raise the bar even higher: the young sprinter marked the South of England Championships with an impressive 7.58 seconds in the 60 meters, claiming her category’s title and breaking her own record by three hundredths of a second.
In the same race, Honor Oteng, only 12 years old, also achieved a remarkable feat with a time of 7.69 seconds, confirming her 7.66 seconds record from late December. These performances hint at an exciting rivalry between these two young prodigies, who could redefine the standards of British women’s sprinting.
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