Tia Garrard and Grindan Abrahams Represent England

Tia Garrard and Grindan Abrahams represented England at the Schools International Athletic Board Track and Field International in Belfast on 18 July, competing against the best under-17 school athletes from Ireland, Scotland and Wales at the Mary Peters Track. Both came home with medals. England won the overall team competition on both the boys and girls sides.
The SIAB International is one of the more selective events in the junior athletics calendar. Athletes qualify by finishing in the top two at their national schools championships in their respective discipline — meaning selection alone confirms an athlete is among the two best in England at under-17 level in their event. For Tia, that came via the long jump, her performance and experience from last years SIAB being what caused the team selectors to also name her as team captain for the occasion. For Grindan, it came via the 200m, where he had won the intermediate boys title at the English Schools Championships in Birmingham a week earlier.
Tia made the trip to Belfast as England team captain — a responsibility that reflects how she is regarded within the squad, not just as a performer but as a presence. She jumped 5.87m in the long jump, taking second place overall and setting a new personal best in the process. The mark improves on her previous best of 5.81m, set at the English Schools Championships just days before, where that performance had also been good enough for silver in the intermediate girls long jump. Two competitions in quick succession, two podium finishes, a PB in the second of them, and the captaincy alongside it — it continues a season in which Tia has already won the ESAA South East Schools Combined Events title with a heptathlon PB of 4951 points.
Grindan ran 21.67 in the 200m and won, taking first place in the inter boys event. The time sits just shy of his personal best and backs up his English Schools 200m title from the previous weekend, where he had gone fastest in the heats with 21.44 before winning the final. Two consecutive weekends, two gold medals at different levels of international competition — the 2026 season has been a significant one for Grindan by any measure.
The Mary Peters Track in Belfast is one of the most storied junior athletics venues in these islands. Named after Dame Mary Peters, the 1972 Olympic pentathlon champion, it has hosted major junior international competitions for decades and is a fitting backdrop for what is, for many athletes, their first experience of competing in an international vest. Both Tia and Grindan were wearing England kit for the occasion — visible in the photograph taken at the airport as the team departed — and both delivered performances that justified their selection.
For Momentum Sports, having two athletes selected for an international competition and returning with medals — in the same week that Grindan was defending his English Schools title — is a notable moment in the season. The SIAB International sits between domestic schools competition and senior international athletics. At under-17 level it is about as high as the school sport calendar goes and both Tia and Grindan perfomed very well.