Athletics: Davies impresses on Great Britain duty

Davies, from Cusworth, set a new personal best tally of 5,258, just one point short of the best figure by a UK athlete this year, when finishing fifth in a three-way indoor Under-23 Combined Events International in Salamanca, Spain.

But for an ankle injury, which affected his performances in several events, notably the high jump at the end of day one, the 20-year-old would have topped senior David Hall’s 5,259.

Captaining the Great Britain team, for whom he top-scored, against host nation Spain and France, Davies got off to a flying start with victory in the 60m in a new PB time of 7.04 seconds. He also set a new personal best (6.94m) in the long jump and the shot (12.86m) but lost ground when managing just 1.84m in the high jump.

He looked like having to quit the competition after aggravating his ankle injury in the 60m hurdles (8.95) at the start of day two.

But with the help of the GB medical team he managed to contest the final two events - the pole vault where he equalled his PB of 4.20m – and the 1,000m, where he clocked 2.44.93 minutes.