Bennett wins UKA appeal over funding

Chris Bennett will set his sights on landing the Commonwealth Games and European Championship medals he believes are within his reach after UK Athletics reversed their original decision to remove his Lottery funding.

The Glaswegian hammer thrower, who competed at the Rio 2016 Olympics and at last summer’s world championships in London, was the only competitor to overturn his exclusion on appeal with others, including fellow Scot Guy Learmonth, losing out.

Bennett submitted almost 50 pages of documents to support his case to an independent UKA panel and his addition to a world-class performance squad that now numbers 113 means he will get a support package that also includes medical back-up and overseas training camps.

“I made a number of points and many of those were duly accepted by the panel,” he said. “Now I can look ahead over the next year and start planning for training and competition with my coach. I am confident that I will be able to repay the faith shown in me by British Athletics and throw well at a high level.”

Meanwhile, Mhairi Maclennan wants to use her British team debut in tomorrow’s European cross-country championships in Slovakia as a career springboard. The 22-year-old, one of five Scots in Samorin, has overcome the injuries that slowed her ascent but now wants further progress on the track. “This will be my first senior year so I need to plan with my coach what we want to do,” the 22-year-old said. “I need to get my times down to get into bigger races.”