Percy flies flag as duo defeated

SCOTTISH success at the British Championships in Manchester yesterday was hard to come by as middle-distance runners Jake Wightman and Neil Gourley suffered surprise defeats.

But at least Nick Percy kept the Saltire flying as he defended his discus title.

Percy, 25, threw 59.74m in the fifth round to prevail. Credit, he insisted, to be shared with his parents who allowed their back garden on the Isle of Wight to be remodelled by their son to create a makeshift training venue.

‘My mother wasn’t too happy with it,’ he acknowledged. ‘But needs must,’ said Percy

‘My whole year was built to this competition. We didn’t know if the competition would go on. I’m proud to have come here and happy to have got another one in.’

Arguably the biggest name taking part amid a litany of noshows from the country’s titanic elite, Wightman fell short of his modest billing by sliding to second in the 800m final.

Instead, it was Dan Rowden who denied the 26-year-old his expected victory by producing a stadium record of 1:45.95 with Wightman’s young Edinburgh club-mate Joe Ewing fifth.

‘I am frustrated with that,’ said Wightman, now the secondfastest Briton over 1500m following his groundbreaking effort in Monaco last month.

‘I came here with one intention which was to win it but I feel like I did everything. When you are running against a guy like Daniel with the form he is in, I knew he was going to be hard to beat and he proved that.’

Gourley also suffered a shock defeat in the 1500m final with the hot favourite edged out by 15 hundredths of a second by George Mills. Chris Bennett also fell short in the hammer final, the Glaswegian landing silver with his final attempt of 68.84m behind Craig Murch.

Meanwhile, Laura Muir will hunt a third win in a row over 1500 metres at tonight’s Continental Tour leg in Chorzow.