British selectors have named Heather Fell as part of the 10-strong team for the European Championships later this month despite her poor season.
The 27-year-old from Devon has struggled to prove herself this year, failing to reproduce the form that achieved her an Olympic silver in 2008.
She finished a disappointing 24th at the most recent World Cup event in Berlin early last month following a 13th place finish in April’s British World Cup event at Medway. These results are disheartening for the athlete who has set her sights on picking up another medal at the 2012 Olympics.
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She told BBC Sport: “I was behind the pace at the start of the season but I’m beginning to catch up now.
“I struggled through training in March and April and I got hay-fever for the first time which was affecting my performance.
“So I didn’t feel fit in Medway, and I’m not quite sure why I didn’t perform well in Berlin, but now I’m midway through a solid block of training before the Europeans.
“I’m hoping that getting a consistent block of training in will help, and I did a track run on Sunday and the time was really good, so that was pleasing.”
Fell’s best performance of the year was her fifth place finish at the first World Cup event in Mexico in March.
Mhairi Spence, Katy Livingston and Louise Helyer will join Fell in the women’s individual competition at July’s Europeans, which are to take place in Debrecen in Hungary.
Juniors Samantha Murray, Katy Murke and Freyja Prentice will join the British team to take part in the relay.
Jessica Whittington, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine
