Jake Heyward
 Heyward at the 2018 IAAF World U20 Championships – Men's 1500 metres | |||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
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| Born | 26 April 1999 Lisvane, Cardiff, Wales | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Country | Wales | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | Track and field | ||||||||||||||
| Event | 1500 m | ||||||||||||||
| Club | Oregon Track Club Cardiff AAC | ||||||||||||||
| Turned pro | 2019 | ||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||
| Personal bests | |||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Jake Heyward (born 26 April 1999) is a Welsh middle-distance runner. He was a silver medalist at the 2022 European Athletics Championships in the 1500 metres and competed for Wales at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Career
[edit]Heyward was a European champion at under-18 and under-20 level while he was a member of the Cardiff Amateur Athletic Club. Having graduated from Cardiff University, he turned professional in 2020 with the Oregon Track Club.[1][2]
Heyward went into the British Athletics Championship and Olympic trials in Manchester in 2021 with a 3:33.99 personal best for the 1,500 metres race, which was below the minimum Olympic standard, although he had broken Neil Horsfield's 31 year old Welsh record set in Brussels in 1990.[1] On 26 June 2021 Heyward finished third in the 1,500m at the 2021 British Athletics Championships, to secure a place on the British team for the delayed 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo, Japan.[3] In Tokyo, despite being hampered by an Achilles injury Heyward came through the heats and semi-finals and placed ninth in the final of the 1500m.[4] He finished his 2021 season with a 3:52.15 mile run personal best, and Welsh record, in the 2021 Diamond League event, the Prefontaine Classic on August 21.[2]
In June 2022, he finished fourth in the 1500 metres at the 2022 British Athletics Championships.[5] He came fifth representing Wales in the 1500m race at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, running a new personal best time of 3:31.08. He won the silver medal in the 1500 metres at the 2022 European Athletics Championships in Munich, Germany, finishing behind Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen.[6] Heyward finished as runner-up in the Fifth Avenue Mile behind three-time winner Jake Wightman in September 2022.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Middle-Distance Ace Jake Heyward Obliterates 31-Year-Old Welsh 1500m Record In Olympic Qualifying Time". Dai Sport. 30 May 2021. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
- ^ a b "How They Train: Jake Heyward". Athletics Weekly. 6 October 2021. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
- ^ "British Athletics Results". results.britishathletics.org.uk. Archived from the original on 27 June 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ "'Maybe I bluffed the Olympics' - Jake Heyward predicts more in 2022". BBC Sport. 24 June 2022. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
- ^ "Müller UK Athletics Championships". World Athletics. 24 June 2022. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
- ^ "HEYWARD RUES MISSED OPPORTUNITY AT EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS". Eurosport. 20 August 2022. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
- ^ "Laura Muir and Jake Wightman win 5th Avenue Mile in New York". BBC Sport. 12 September 2022. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
External links
[edit]
- Living people
- 1999 births
- Welsh male middle-distance runners
- British male middle-distance runners
- Athletes from Cardiff
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics
- Olympic athletes for Great Britain
- European Athletics Championships medalists
- Commonwealth Games competitors for Wales
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2022 Commonwealth Games
- 21st-century Welsh sportsmen