Testing times for Sky Scholars Jessica Judd, Lucy Garner and Mark English
By Mark Ashenden
Last Updated: 24/03/17 12:00pm
Four Sky Academy Scholars had an emotional weekend of competing as the battle to make Rio reaches a climax.
1500m runner Jessica Judd has a mountain to climb to qualify for the Olympics after finishing in a disappointing eighth spot at the British Championships in Birmingham on Sunday.
Laura Muir and Laura Weightman automatically booked their spot with the top two spots in the 1500m final. There is a third place available but the qualifying time of 4.07 will be tough for the Sky Academy Sports Scholar whose personal best is 4.09.
Judd was upset with her performance after clocking 4.18.07 but has vowed to give everything to still achieve her dream of running at the Games with a couple more races before the cut-off date on July 11.
It was mixed emotions for Lucy Garner who secured a place on the National Championships podium for the first time as a senior after finishing third in the women's road race at Stockton-on-Tees.
With defending champion Lizzie Armitstead (Boels Dolmans) ruled out through illness, the race was wide open.
Garner did well just making it to the start line having only just overcome fractured bones after a big crash in Belgium.
The Wiggle High5 rider, fighting back after just missing out on Rio selection, said: "I was totally disappointed with third but looking back I'm actually really happy to have been on the podium.
"I still have two broken ribs and I was happy with my form and my performance at the Nationals. It's given me that extra bit of motivation for the last part of the season."
Irish 800m star Mark English has had a turbulent pre-season having made the Olympic qualifying time before suffering a stress fracture and missed almost three months of training.
The 23-year-old though hit back on Sunday with a comfortable victory in the National Senior Championships in Santry.
"It was a good blow-out," said English. "I only did three sessions before that, but I felt good and ran well. I planned to wait until 200 metres to go and wind it up from there."
BMX rider Quillan Isidore is another Scholar having to deal with missing out on Olympic selection, but showed his huge potential in this challenging sport by finishing first and second at the National Series at his home track in Peckham.
The 19-year-old next heads to Verona, Italy for the European Championships.
WHAT'S COMING UP FOR OUR SCHOLARS
29 JUNE: Siobhan O'Connor, Scottish Open Long Course
1-10 JULY: Quillan Isidore, Euro Championships, Verona, Italy
1-2 JULY: Sam Oldham, Gymnastics London Open
