TWO Worcester Athletic Club high jumpers were crowned champions at the England Athletics Under 15 and 17 Championships in Bedford.

Tudor Grange Academy pupil Joel Khan and Danielle Hopkins from Malvern’s The Chase School secured national gold medals.

United Kingdom number one Khan jumped a personal best of 2.10 metres to retain his boys’ under-17s title.

The 16-year-old was pushed all the way by Thomas Hewes from Chelmsford AC, with 2.05m, and Josh Hewett from Liverpool Harriers, with 1.99m.

Khan’s winning jump placed him 10th on the all-time list in the age group and he also attempted a championship record of 2.12m.

The medals were presented by Graham Ravenscroft, England Athletics national coach mentor for high jump.

Khan then competed in the triple jump, despite not training in the discipline, and won the bronze medal with a PB of 14.35m.

Teepee Princewill from Harrow beat Khan to silver after jumping further in his other jumps.

Khan said: “I enjoy triple jumping and wanted to see what I could do against the best in the country.

“I am friends with Wesley Matsuka-Williams from the City of Norwich, who won the gold medal, and he gave me some tips during the competition.

“Perhaps if I trained a bit more for triple jump, I could jump even further.”

Khan’s Worcester training partner Hopkins won gold in the girls’ under-15s high jump.

She made a winning jump of 1.69m, beating UK number one Emma Sherwood from Dudley and Stourbridge with 1.65m for the silver.

The bronze was shared by Jodie Watson from Stratford and Hannah Moat from Scunthorpe, with 1.65m as well.

Hopkins, 14, said: “I would like to have cleared 1.72m but am very happy with the win.

“Emma beat me at the English Schools Championships in Gateshead and I was determined she was not going to beat me this time.”

Worcester club high jump coach Deirdre Elmhirst admitted: “This was a very special weekend for me.

“For athletes to qualify for the national championships is a feat in itself, so to come away with two champions is incredible.

“I am very proud of how they both performed well under pressure.”

Worcester’s Darian Moore, competing in his first year as an under-15, ran in the 100m heats but did not qualify for the final.

Previously, Hopkins won medals at the National Combined Events Championships for under-15s girls in Bedford in windy, showery conditions.

She did three events on each of the two days and finished the hexathlon with the national bronze and the Midlands gold.

Hopkins ran the 75m hurdles in a PB of 12.23 seconds, which placed her 10th out of 40.

She managed the fourth-best long jump with 5.19m, moving up into sixth overall.

The first day finished with the javelin and a throw of 20.57m put Hopkins eighth going into the second day.

A shot put of 9.30m dropped her into 11th but she showed her class in the high jump by soaring over 1.68m, 9cm higher than the second best.

Hopkins flew up into third position, only 12 points behind second place.

In the 800m, with tired legs, determined Hopkins gave everything she had left and secured her bronze with a points total of 3,471.

The silver went to Mia Chantree with 3,499 and the gold to Jess Hopkins with 3,769. Both girls represented Chelmsford.

As the Midlands athlete with the most points, Hopkins bagged the regional gold medal.

Elmhirst said: “This was Danielle’s first hexathlon and she performed well across the events.

“She was thrilled to come away with a national medal in her first year competing in combined events.”

Earlier in the summer, Hopkins won the schools’ county and regional pentathlons, with the national equivalent to follow in mid-September.

Elmhirst said: “Danielle is an excellent high jumper and has made great progress learning the other events this year.”

Hopkins is moving up to the heptathlon next year by taking on the 200m.

Elmhirst added: “Training to be a heptathlete is incredibly hard work but Danielle has the motivation, dedication and passion to do the high volume of training.

“She has been inspired not only by Jess Ennis-Hill and Katarina Johnson-Thompson, but also by 16-year-old Niamh Emerson, who won the heptathlon bronze medal at the European Youth Championships in July.”