Rob Mullett took a step closer to Olympic selection at Birmingham yesterday when he retained his British 3000m steeplechase title.
Mullett, who became the only British athlete to gain an Olympic qualifying standard so far this season back in May, finished two seconds clear of Tom Wade (Aldershot) in 8:41.67.
Mullett’s victory was eased when main rival Zac Seddon (Bracknell) took a tumble in the closing stages. Mullett now needs to get a second standard to assure a trip to Rio.
Brighton & Hove’s Will Gray, who like Mullett had recently returned from America, finished 12th in 9:08.58s.
In the women’s hammer competition Louisa James (Hastings), who won the U23 title last weekend was below her best and had to settle for seventh place in 57.49m while in the pole vault Livvy Connor (Lewes) cleared her opening height of 3.60m but failed at 3.75m and finished in 11th place.
Seb Rodger from Eastbourne qualified for the final of the 400m hurdles today as the fastest qualifier after winning his heat in 49.9s while Bethany Close (Brighton & Hove) ducked inside sixty seconds again in 59.5s when finishing second in her heat and she will line up in today’s final.
Both Charlie Grice (Brighton Phoenix) and Lee Emanuel from Hastings survived their 1500 metres heats and will race in today’s final though Grice’s club mate Robbie Fitzgibbon just missed a place in the final clocking 3:46.99s and placing fourth in his heat.
There were several good runs by Sussex athletes in the heats with Elise Lovell (Hastings) recording a season’s best of 14.0s when placing fourth in her heat of the 100m hurdles while Amy Barclay (Crawley) clocked 14.60s for sixth place in her heat.
Holly Turner (Crawley) clocked 56.82s when placing sixth in her heat of the 400 metres and Rory Graham-Watson (Windsor) and Finley Bigg (Phoenix) finished fourth and fifth respectively in their 800m heats recording 1:50.46s and 1:51.06s respectively.
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