Despite having only a few hours sleep following a middle of the night return from holiday, Thaila-Jade Mason secured the long jump silver medal representing Athens at the UK School Games. The winner, Olivia Schrimshaw (Wales and Beijing), is the UK number one and the only athlete to have beaten Thaila, (UK number two) in competion this year. Thaila’s 5.61m was just sufficient to restrict Gracie Osman (England and Atlanta) to 3rd place.

The School Games is a biennial sporting competition for elite school-age athletes in the United Kingdom that began in 2006. The event is based on an Olympic Games model, with multiple sports events held across an intensive four-day period. The top athletes from across the four home nations are placed in eight teams each named after the venues of the past eight Olympics.