Record-setters Bleasdale, Proctor head to Olympics

LONDON (AFP) –

Polevaulter Holly Bleasdale, pictured in March 2012, and long jumper Shara Proctor both set new British records on Sunday to seal their places at the Olympics.

Polevaulter Holly Bleasdale and long jumper Shara Proctor both set new British records on Sunday to seal their places at the Olympics.

Bleasdale arrived at the trials in Birmingham without a current ‘A’ standard qualification mark but improved her previous best by one centimetre with a clearance of 4.71m.

Proctor broke a 29-year-old British record in the long jump to seal her place in the Games with a leap of 6.95 metres, surpassing the previous mark of 6.90m set by Bev Kinch back in 1983 – five years before Proctor was born.

Only five women have jumped further than Proctor in 2012 and the 23-year-old is certainly aiming high when it comes to the Olympics.

“Of course I’m thinking gold, why am I here?” said Proctor, who hails from the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla.

Two famous names from Britain’s athletics past also had reason to celebrate, with Eilish McColgan and Laura Weightman sealing their places on the team.

McColgan, daughter of Olympic 10,000m silver medallist Liz McColgan, won the 3,000m steeplechase, while Weightman – who is coached by former world champion Steve Cram – stormed to victory in the 1,500m.

McColgan almost withdrew from the race after being ill all week, while she missed last year’s world championships with a broken foot.

The 21-year-old said: “At Christmas I was on crutches and could not even walk. If you had said then I was going to the Olympics I would have laughed.”