ALICE Hopkins claimed long jump gold in what became an Oxfordshire battle for the title at the UK Athletics Indoor Championships.
Oxford City Athletic Club’s Hopkins, who is from Thame, beat Kidlington-born Jade O’Dowda, her former training partner at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham.
O’Dowda took the lead with 6.13m, which Hopkins countered with 6.25m. Jumps of 6.40m and 6.43m saw O’Dowda in front again, before Hopkins won the title with a 6.59m leap.
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Hopkins, who trains at Brunel University, where she is coached by Linford Christie, said: “Jumping a personal best of 6.59 here is fantastic. It has been a long time coming.
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“The crowd was amazing. Getting my claps going helped me so much. It took the pressure off knowing we had all six jumps as there were only eight of us. To jump an outright personal best is so positive.”
Hopkins is now aiming to reach the World Athletics Championship in Tokyo in September.
O’Dowda, who competes in the heptathlon, is next targeting the European Athletics Indoor Championships in the Netherlands next month.
She was pleased with her 6.43m jump, an indoor personal best, but frustrated with two fouls which looked to be good jumps.
Elsewhere, Ben Ince (Oxford City) was second in his heat of the 60m hurdles in a time of 8.31 seconds, however only heat winners made the final.
