Aviva London 2012 Olympic Games Trials

WGEL performances at this weekend's Aviva London 2012 Olympic Trials were headed by three second placed performances. Two of those, from Tiffany Porter, and Shana Cox will guarantee selection for the Olympic team, as both athletes already hold "current" A standards, but Mark Dry who holds the B standard will hope to cement his place with a good performance in the up-coming European Championships in Helsinki.

As the British record holder, and the fastest in the field, Tiffany Porter started the 100mH final as favourite, but after hitting the 9th hurdle, lost the lead she held over Jessica Ennis, and wasn't able to get back on terms. Tiffany's trime was 13.21 secs (+0.3), after clocking 13.15 secs (-0.3) in her heat, vut as she already held the A standard and finished in the top two in the Trials her selection was guaranteed. Two other Woodford athletes made that final, Sarah Claxton was 3rd with 13.27 secs (+0.3) after her 13.24 secs (+1.1), and Stephanie Gaynor was 8th with 13.83 secs (+0.3) after a 13.73 secs (-0.2) heat. Shana Cox who also already held the A standard finished 2nd in the 400m with 52.87 secs so also guaranteed her selection. Woodford's other 2nd place fell to Mark Dry in the hammer, where he recorded a distance of 74.32m, another B standard, but on this occasion lost out to rival Alex Smith. In the absence of an A standard, only one athlete with a B standard may be selected. Mark's second place came with some controversy, as his throw of 74.32m came in the 5th round, and moved him into the lead.. It was however ruled a no-throw, and Smith threw a little further in the final round. Mark formally protested the no-throw ruling and upon reviewing video evidence after the event the judges reinstated the mark. Sadly the incorrect call would have changed the dynamics of the competition, and may have contributed to Mark not continuing his winning record over Smith. Mark will now compete in next week's European Championships in Helsinki.

There were a number of other good field event performances from Woodford athletes. In the long jump Ezekiel Ewulo was 4th with a season's best of 7.61m (+0.5), and Dan Awde 9th with 7.37m (+0.9), whereas in the women's event Kitty Eleyae recorded a new personal best of 6.25m (+1.0) for 7th. In the women's triple jump, Hannah Frankson was 5th with 13.02m w (+2.1), and Stephanie Aneto was 7th with 12.82m (+0.6). In the shot, Anthony Oshodi was 7th with 15.71m and in the discus, Emneka Udechuku was 6th with 57.34m, and Tom Norman 7th with 54.62m. IIn the women's hammer, HCA member Myra Perkins was 10th with 56.19m, and in the high jump another HCA member Moe Sasegbon was 7th with 1.72m as was Ben Challenger in the men's event with 2.12m.

On the track, Joice Maduaka again made a major domestic final as she placed 5th in the 200m with 23.57 secs (+0.5) after 23.54 secs (-0.6) in her heat. Also making a track final was Oli Heeks who was 8th in the 800m with 1m52.88 secs after qualifying with 1m50.83 secs. Jon Cook just missed out on that final after also placing 2nd in his heat, but with 1m50.99 secs.In the men's 200m, both Jordan Kirby-Polidore and Sam Watts were 3rd in their heats with times of 21.19 secs (+0.8) and 21.36 secs (+1.7). In the 100m heats Eugene Ayanful recorded 10.96 secs (-1.2) and in the women's event, Elaine O'Neil 11.81 secs (-0.2). In the 400m, Graham Hedman recorded 47.10 secs in his heat, and in teh women's 800m, Tara Bird narrowly missed out on a final place with 2m08.96 secs. In the 110mH, Richard Alleyne recorded 14.02 secs (+1.0) in his heat,and Dan Awde, a personal best of 14.23 secs (+0.5). The 400mH heats saw Mike Baker record 52.61 secs, and in the women's event Tracey Duncan recorded 60.34 secs.