Brum relay duo enjoy silver lining

Jul 14 2008 By Ryan Bangs

BIRMINGHAM duo Jordan McGrath and Robert Davis were celebrating after winning 4x400m silver at the World Junior Championships in Poland.

Solihull-born McGrath, who anchored the team, and Davis from Sandwell joined Louis Persent and Nigel Levine in yesterday's final and produced a season's-best display to finish in a time of 3.05.82 minutes. The USA took gold in a new championship best while Germany were third - and McGrath, 18, admitted the medal had more than made up for his disappointing individual display.

"It makes up for not performing as well as I should have in the individual," said the Solihull and Small Heath AC runner, who finished seventh in the 400m final.

Birchfield Harrier Davis added: "We're all on our way up and there'll be a few good years to come from us all."

Fellow Birchfield Harrier Edirin Okoro was satisfied with his efforts, despite failing to reach yesterday's 110m final.

The 19-year-old was t hreetenths of a second away from a final berth after recording a season's-best time of 13.91 seconds on his way to a sixth-place finish in Saturday's semis. Okoro's performance came just 24 hours after he had scraped through his heat as the fastest loser following another season's-best 13.99s.

"It was a better performance than in the heats," said Okoro. "But I've got a lot of things to work on as my mid-section of the race was off, halfway through I was all over the place. I'm pleased with the beginning of the season, it could have been a lot better here but it's all about experience."

* The Lloyds TSB Local Heroes initiative supports Britain's young sporting hopefuls on their journey to London 2012. For more information please visit www.lloydstsblondon2012.co.uk/Local_Heroes