Host team field strong squad for annual international match on Sunday

One day after racing 5000m at the Diamond League in Birmingham and eight days after winning her race at the Night of the 10,000m PBs event, Jess Judd plans to represent Loughborough Students in the university’s long-standing international fixture at the Paula Radcliffe Stadium on Sunday (May 22).

Judd is joined in the Loughborough squad by Niamh Emerson, the heptathlete who won world under-20 gold and Commonwealth bronze in 2018 but who has struggled with injuries recently.

This will be Emerson’s first competition since September 2020 and she will compete in the match shot put in addition to guesting in the javelin and sprint hurdles.

Judd and Emerson are joined in the Loughborough team by GB internationals and recent BUCS champions Josh Faulds (400m hurdles), Bekah Walton and Dan Bainbridge (javelin), Natasha Harrison (400m), Taia Tunstall (discus) and George Hyde (shot).

The event has been going since 1958 and traditionally sees Loughborough University up against a team from the AAA of England. This time however the match sees Loughborough take on England, Scotland and Wales plus a team from the National Athletics League and a GB under-20 squad.

This is the first time the NAL has sent a team to the event and their line-up includes hammer thrower Jessica Mayho, 400m hurdler Nicole Kendall and discus thrower Shadine Duquemin.

Scotland fields a team that includes discus throwers Kirsty Law and Nick Percy, hammer thrower Mark Dry and high jumper David Smith.

Dry makes a return for Scotland after a controversial 28-month ban for breaching anti-doping rules and is hoping to stake his claim to make his fourth Commonwealth Games.

Wales is especially strong in the sprints with Jeremiah Azu, Hannah Brier and Sam Gordon, among others, while the GB under-20 team includes 800m runner Abigail Ives, sprinter Joy Eze and pole vaulter Sophie Ashurst.

The England team, meanwhile, is predictably strong with discus throwers like Greg Thompson and Jade Lally, triple jumper Ben Williams, long jumper Jacob Fincham-Dukes and sprinter Bianca Williams.

The teams in full are as follows:

Loughborough – click here.

Scotland – click here.

GB U20s – click here.

England – click here.

Wales – click here.

National Athletics League – click here.

The action, which is being streamed live on Vinco, starts at 10.45am with the women’s hammer and is due to finish at 6.05pm with the men’s 4x400m.