Charlotte Henrich
Happy birthday to Wales’s Charlotte Henrich, who broke a 44-year-old national record this summer and then broke it again.
June, Birmingham: 50.58 over 400m, and Michelle Scutt’s Welsh record, set in 1982, was gone. July, London: 50.45, and Charlotte had taken her own record down again. She is 19 and she is the fastest Welsh woman there has ever been over one lap.
What she did with it is the remarkable part. At the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow she made the 400m final for Wales and finished fourth. At the European Championships in Birmingham she reached the individual final and finished sixth in Europe — and came home with two silver medals, running in the mixed 4x400m final and in the heat that carried Great Britain’s women’s 4x400m into theirs. Two European medals in her first senior season, which began in January.
None of this is new to her. She is a European U18 champion, a European U20 champion, a Commonwealth Youth Games double silver medallist and a World U20 relay bronze medallist. Six days ago she ran 35.92 for 300m in Silesia.
She trains at Invicta East Kent under Nigel Stickings. And she is learning Welsh on Duolingo, so this one is for her in it.
Pen-blwydd hapus i ti, Charlotte! Many happy returns, and here’s to a year of lanes you own from the gun. 🎂🎁🎉🫶🫶🏴