UGEN AIMS FOR OLYMPIC SPRINGBOARD
Great Britain’s Lorraine Ugen has started her Olympic countdown as she targets a first senior title.
The 26-year-old is one of the favourites for long jump gold at the European Championships in Berlin, with the athletics starting tomorrow.
Ugen is GB’S only world leader going into the Championships, having jumped 7.05m at the trials in July.
European Indoor champion Ivana Spanovic – who beat Ugen to gold in Belgrade last year – is six centimetres behind.
And with the Tokyo Olympics two years away, Ugen wants to set a marker in Berlin.
She said: “It’s the opportunity to get my first senior medal and that will, hopefully, propel me to try to do the same thing at the World Championships next year.
“Having two back-to-back years of, hopefully, getting on the podium will help me to do the same thing in Tokyo at the Olympics.
“Going into the next couple of years that is the goal, to get those outdoor medals.
“Yes, I’m world leader, but there are still world-class girls who are competing in Europe so I’m not going to put pressure on myself to say I’m going to be disappointed if I don’t come away with gold.
“I’m going to be disappointed if I don’t win a medal, but what colour depends on the day.”
Ugen won gold in the 4x100m relay at the Commonwealth Games in April after being drafted in as a lastminute replacement for the injured Corinne Humphreys.
It came after she finished fourth in the long jump.
She added: “I’m going in the competition optimistic.”