'Wildest dreams' - Hull athlete Archie Yeo on journey from injury hell to European final
Archie Yeo has expressed his pride at the journey that took him from the treatment table to the final of the European Championships long jump competition.
The 23-year-old from Hull, who learned the sport at Kingston-upon-Hull Athletics Club, produced a dramatic moment on Monday when he qualified for the final at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham with a last-gasp leap of 7m92.
But he couldn’t replicate that in the first three rounds of Tuesday night’s final, a jump of 7m42 the best he could muster before being eliminated from a competition won by Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou with a leap more than a metre longer.
Nevertheless, given the injury that nearly ended his career last year, the fact he is competing at a high level is a real positive for an East Yorkshireman who has recently made Thames Valley Harriers in London his training base.
A sand-pit specialist, Yeo was ticking along nicely with titles won at the British indoor championships in the triple jump in 2024 and the outdoor championships in Birmingham a year later. He also won silver in the long jump at the same national event last summer.
But it was then that his career hit a major road bump.
“It’s insane. Last August, I dislocated my hip and they thought I wasn’t going to jump again,” he said, before returning earlier this summer to jump over 8m for the first time and win another silver at the British Championships.
“There’s been a lot of rehab, working and trying to work out what was going on. Because we were a little bit in the dark as well with it. I got back jumping as early as I could, and then just carried on progressing from there.
“To be back jumping, to go eight (metres) this season and compete in a European final, it’s beyond my wildest dreams.”
Even though he couldn’t build on his qualifying performance when the medals were on the line in Tuesday night’s continental showpiece, it was all good experience for the man from the village of Elsham, just south of the Humber.
“Obviously, a little bit disappointed with my performance, but I'm more proud of how me and my team have got me back here,” he said.
“I tried to prepare as well as I could, good fuelling. The physio team here are great. Maybe I did something a little bit wrong, but it's all a learning experience. Hopefully next time we can make it a bit better.”
Sheffield’s Olympic bronze medallist Louie Hinchliffe earned a place in the final of the men’s 100m on Tuesday night as a fastest loser in the semi-final, but had to withdraw.
His Great Britain team-mate Romell Glave won gold ahead of Jeremiah Azu.
Halifax’s Max Burgin and GB team-mate Ben Pattison progressed to the men’s 800m final.
Burgin emerged out of the pack on the final lap of the first semi-final and crossed the line in 1:44.73, ahead of Croatia’s Marino Bloudek and Spain’s David Barroso.
The Yorkshireman saw his chances at this summer’s Commonwealth Games ruined by a virus, but he will get the chance to compete for a medal in Thursday’s showpiece at the Alexander Stadium, where temperatures are set to hit around 34 degrees.
“With preparation coming in to this, I wasn’t confident in my overall fitness,” Burgin said. “But everything had suggested that speed and a change of pace worked to get me through.
“It’s fantastic, seeing the Brits doing well. We have two Brits in the final for the 800m, we’ve got a really good chance for a few medals, so really looking forward to it.”
Pattison, who claimed bronze in this city at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, finished a place behind Ireland’s Mark English, who broke a 48-year-old championship record when winning the second semi-final in a time of one minute 43.49 seconds.
English knocked 0.35 seconds off the previous best mark, set by East Germany’s Olaf Beyer in 1978.