Learmonth hopes win brings Euro reward
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 which 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 wanted 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 on to something big.
“I tried desperately to get out to Europe because I had two races out there but the travel has been insane.
“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 second to Ana Pipi in the 400m B final in 53.43 seconds, while Andy Butchart could only finish sixth in the 1500m 24 hours after being surprisingly beaten in the 3,000m final. Piers Copeland won the 1500m to all but secure his spot in Torun along side Neil Gourley – who opted out of competing – with Butchart still in with a chance as a third choice.
With most big names sitting out of the hastily-arranged trials, Kilbarchan’s Andrew Murphy was the sole entrant in the heptathlon, but his agonising failure to get off a single throw in Saturday’s shot put ended his bid, although he completed the remaining events.
“It was like I’d popped the balloon,” he said. “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?”
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 Morgan Lake.