Simpson targets Olympic final now her agonising wait is over
The 24-year-old West runner had to wait for seven days after the trials before finally being told she had made the team when the second wave of selections was confirmed.
But the wait has only sharpened the former Millfield School student's desire to ensure her Olympic experience will be remembered for all the right reasons.
“I think I can run 1min 58secs, and if things go well that could get me into the final,” said Simpson.
“There are a couple of girls who have run 1:55.56, who are ahead of everyone else, but then there is a group of us who can run 1:58.59 battling for a place in the final. That is what I am chasing. I'm not just going there to take part.”
Racing in Holland, Bristol sprinter Ryan Scott clocked 10.35secs over 100m as his Olympic dream finally ended.
Scott, who competes for Yate and District AC and trained at Bath with Craig Pickering, ran a personal best of 10.20 last week but it proved too late for a call-up into the British relay team for the Beijing Games.
● Yate athlete Sara Barry won the triple jump at the Birmingham Games with a clearance of 12.45m, her second-best effort of the summer. There was also a victory for Stroud's Scottish international Tom Russell in the 3,000m, which incorporated the Midland Senior Championships.
● Teenager Beth Jones set a new personal best of 41.17m to win the hammer as her club, Yate and District AC, finished third in the BAL Cup match on Saturday.
● Marathon international Lucy Hasell, from Wellington, finished fifth (35mins 53secs) in the BUPA Great Capital Run 10K road race in Hyde Park.
● Bristol and West runner Phil Parry cruised to victory in the Wellington 10K, finishing more than a minute clear of Clevedon's Paul Wilson.
The women's title went to Wells athlete Anna Lewis.
● Mike Blackmore, of Bitton Road Runners, won the latest Towpath 10K along the River Avon from Jon Hanley and Bristol super vet John Duncan.
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