Mercy Brown on course for Team GB spot at Rio 2016 Olympic Games

Teenage sensation Mercy Brown remains confident she can achieve the points total that will seal her place in the Team GB weightlifting squad at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

The 18-year-old has just returned from the International Women’s Grand Prix in Austria, where she added to her growing reputation by smashing 12 British records to reinforce her status as one of the country's best weightlifters.

That keeps the Londoner, who was sidelined by an ankle injury at the turn of the year, firmly on track to reach the mark required to book her place at Rio.

“I’ve been training six to eight times a week on different exercises and different variations just to build up my overall strength and technique and to get me in a better position to qualify for Rio next year,” Brown told Sky Sports.

“Next month is the Junior Worlds in Poland and two weeks after that it’s the British Seniors where I’m aiming to retain my title. Touch wood, I’ve managed to remain undefeated nationally over two weight classes - 75kg and 75+ - and I hold all the British records from under-16 up until seniors, so it’s going really well for me at national level.

“There are a few small competitions after the British but the World Championship is at the end of the year and that’s where I’ll be trying to get the rest of my qualification points for the Olympic Games.

“It's a little too soon to assess where I am because I recently returned from injury, which was an ankle impingement I suffered last September. I still competed in two competitions after that but I took some time off to allow for the healing process to take place.

“I was still struggling a little bit at the start of this year and now it’s about continuing to establish myself, particularly internationally which I’ve been working very hard on with my coaches.

“I have no doubt I will get that qualification total because I know I’m fully capable of that and more, so hopefully that will come for me very soon. The 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo is there, but it would be a shame for me to be this close to the next Games and not get there, so hopefully I will be at Rio next year.”

As one of the country’s leading emerging female talents from the Black and Minority Ethnic Community, Brown hopes to see others follow in her footsteps.

“I hope I can inspire people through my lifting and through the way I overcome barriers and different obstacles in life,” she said.

“I just hope that can motivate people to achieve. I’d like to think what I‘m doing at the moment is creating a pathway for others.”