Show-stopper Paul Gilbert led the way as Sussex grabbed three gold and two silver medals at the AAA Junior Indoor Championships at Birmingham.

Gilbert (Phoenix) caused a major upset in the under-20 800m when he beat European Junior Championship silver medallist Nic Andrews (Devon) to win in 1min.54.07sec.

He went to the All England Schools as a 400m runner last summer and his pace surprised the opposition. Gilbert said: "I was not expecting to win but Nic had not looked that sharp in the heats and I thought Alisdair McLean-Foreman from Belgrave would be the real danger.

"They have both run much faster than me but at the bell I just went and hung on. I could feel Alisdair near but Nic just faded away. It would be nice to think that this run will get me an invitation to the under-20 international against Germany next month but Nic and Alisdair have much faster times to their credit."

In her first year, Brighton and Hove's Claire Smithson underlined her position as the best British junior prospect by taking the shot putt event.

Claire, in her secondary field event, was headed in the opening round by second-year performer Kara Nwidiobe, from Blackpool, who pulled out a personal best of 12.88m to Claire's 11.58m. But she took the lead in the second round with the only 13-metre putt of the competition, reaching 13.09m.

Claire pushed her next four putts over the 12m-mark, while her rival could only manage one more. Simon Cooke, from Chichester, secured a county shot double when he took the under-15 boys' title with 13.82m.

Simon sent three other efforts further than his nearest rival, Alex McDiarmid from Falkirk. Horsham Blue Star's Zoe McKinnon took the silver medal in the under-20 60m hurdles in a personal best of 8.87sec.

The other silver medal for Sussex also came in the hurdles. Crawley's Matthew Roberts, who spent much of last track season injured, clocked 8.32sec in the under-17 boys' event. In the under-20 200m, Sarah Tomlins, from Horsham, was fourth in 25.23sec.

Crawley won the boys event and Brighton and Hove took the girls competition in the Sussex Sports Hall Under-13s League.

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