All or nothing now for Cooke and Ferguson
WHEN Scottish Athletics selectors meet tonight to finalise their squad for the Commonwealth Games, there will be at least two awkward choices where more competitors fulfil the required standards than there are places available in the field at Hampden.
And there may be a third quandary presented if Gillian Cooke and Lisa Ferguson can pull out gargantuan long jump in Livingston today before the deadline passes.
The pair, chasing the final available berth in the event, were separated by just two centimetres at yesterday’s British League meeting in Birmingham but were both well adrift of the necessary distance of 6.20metres.
For Cooke, the former world bobsleigh champion, the opportunity to complete her career with a third trip to a Games will not be easily ceded.
‘Tomorrow is the day,’ she vowed. ‘It was one of those days for me — three no jumps, a run through where I slammed my foot into the board and two flat jumps.’
There is enough room in Team Scotland to accommodate both Allan Hamilton and James McLachlan but they must exceed the men’s long jump standard of 7.65m in Livingston to secure their inclusion.
Hamilton will be buoyed by leaping 7.81m in Birmingham, the third-best jump of all-time by a Scot, while McLachlan must rebound from missing the qualifying distance by two centimetres. ‘I’m just pleased to be getting my form back after the hamstring injury,’ said Chicago-based hopeful Hamilton.
With teenage prospect Kimberley Reed throwing in Livingston, Myra Perkins will travel to Frankfurt as their two-way hammer battle reaches its conclusion.
While Mark Mitchell may be at the centre of the toughest selectorial discussion with the Edinburgh-based runner, who is vying with Jake Wightman for consideration, producing his third Commonwealth standard over 1,500m with a 3:41.48 time in Germany last night.
Elsewhere, Laura Muir opens her track season in the 1,500m in Hengelo tonight.