Oxford City ace Hannah England must feel on top of the world at the moment.
England learned this week of her call-up to the Great Britain squad for next weekend’s European Team Championships in Bergen, Norway, and celebrated this by clocking the fastest 1500m time of the season by a British athlete so far at an event in Poland on Tuesday night.
England was competing at the Janusz Kusocinski Memorial meeting in Warsaw, where she finished third in a time of 4mins 05.53secs.
The time also met the European Championship qualifying standard, which puts her No 1 in the UK rankings in 2010.
It’s been a superb start to the season for England.
Her previous season’s best of 4.07.97 came in an IAAF World Challenge meeting in Hengelo last month, and her rapid improvement suggests a promising season ahead.
The race in Warsaw was won by Ukrainian Anna Mishchenko, who stopped the clock on 4.04.37, while Poland’s Sylwia Ejdys was second in 4.05.52.
England, who is part of the ‘On Camp with Kelly’ scheme, made her big breakthrough at last year’s European Team Championships when, as a late replacement in the 800m, she ran under two minutes for the first time to finish fourth in 1.59.54.
She also finished fourth over 1500m the following day.
Dame Kelly Holmes said: “I would like to congratulate Hannah and her coach Bud Baldaro on her selection for the European Team Championships.
“One of the aims of ‘On Camp with Kelly’ is to assist the athletes to have successful senior careers and it is great to see Hannah establishing herself as a regular member of the GB senior team. I wish her the best of luck in Bergen.”
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