Guy Learmonth hopes winning the British trials for the European Indoors yesterday gets him a seat on the plane to Torun next week – and the chance to chase a medal clean sweep.
The Borderer, 28, eased to victory in the 800 metres in Manchester in 1:47.81, almost two seconds clear of Ben Pattison in a three-horse race.
Learmonth has been cut adrift in the all-time rankings by domestic rivals Elliot Giles and Jamie Webb following their wonder runs in Poland last week that saw both Englishman duck inside Seb Coe’s long-standing UK record.
But with UK Athletics bosses set to name the GB&NI team for the championships today, he is in a mood to make up lost ground.
He said: “The aim was just to win and finish strongly on the last 200m. Now I can go home, go back to training and hopefully get ready for the European Indoors.
“I opened up my season in Glasgow and got an indoor personal best and that felt super easy and I thought I was onto something big.
“I tried desperately to get out to Europe because I had two races out there but the travel has been insane. I was quarantined at my agent's house in the Netherlands for my first race and then Metz was a seven-hour drive.
“I know I can get into the 1:45s, everything's there but this was all about making sure I won.”
Zoey Clark will have to sweat on her 4x400 relay spot in Torun after coming only second to Ana Pipi in the 400m B final in 53.43 seconds.
And after surprisingly coming second in Saturday’s 3000m final when he ran out of steam on the final lap, Andy Butchart could muster only sixth in the men’s 1500m 24 hours later.
Piers Copeland won the race to all but secure his spot in Torun along side Neil Gourley - who opted out of competing - with Butchart still an option as a third choice.
With most big names opting out of the hastily-arranged Euro trials, Kilbarchan’s Andrew Murphy flew solo as the sole entrant in the heptathlon.
But his gut-wrenching failure to get off a single throw in Saturday’s shot put cruelly ended his bid although he valiantly opted to complete the remaining four events.
He said: “It was like I'd popped the balloon. I was going to pack it in at that point but I thought 'I'm really lucky to be here'. A lot of the guys and girls who I know are at home and don't have the chance to compete here so it wouldn't be doing them justice if I didn't carry on.
“From here I would normally go to Italy and around Europe and do the competitions there but who knows what's happening this year because of the travel? I'm a schoolteacher so I can only take the odd day off here and there, but if I have to quarantine I can't see that happening.”
In the London leg of the trials, Nikki Manson’s Euro chances were hit when she failed to clear a height in the high jump, won by rival Morgan Lake.
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