Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu (right) finishes third as Perri Shakes-Drayton wins the 400 metres at the UK trials. Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesChristine Ohuruogu, the 400 metres Olympic champion, has been left needing a discretionary selection to make it on to the plane to Daegu and the world championships next month after finishing outside of the top two automatic qualifying spots at the UK Trials in Birmingham.
The 27-year-old finished in third place with a time of 51.91sec, but is refusing to panic. "I'll just wing it. I went to Osaka [2007 world championships where she won the gold medal] running 53 seconds so ... nothing's a crisis," said Ohuruogu, who has struggled with injury problems since 2009. "I'll honestly go home and be happy with that. I would have liked to have won it, but it's a lack of training I think."
Instead it was Perri Shakes-Drayton who took the national title, beating a field of 400m specialists in a surprise victory for the hurdler. "I thought, 'I want to win this', my beastly personality came out and I got the gold medal," said the 21-year-old with a grin. But the East Ender will not compete over the one lap in Daegu, while the runner-up – Shana Cox – only qualifies for a British passport from November of this year and so all three British places are up for grabs as the selectors meet to decide who will travel to South Korea this summer.
The world champion heptathlete, Jessica Ennis, performed well in all three individual events, winning the high jump title, finishing second in the 100m hurdles and equalling her personal best in the shot put. "It's been a busy day and I'm quite tired, but it's been good," said the 25-year-old. "I've had some good performances and it's good to run against Tiffany [Ofili-Porter] so I'm pleased with today. Now I need to go home, rest, get some food and get prepared for tomorrow. I'm feeling good about Daegu, my training's been going well and I'm feeling fresh and on top of my game, I just need to sharpen up a bit more before I get there."
Despite being the shortest athlete in the field, Ennis won the high jump competition with a clearance of 1.89m, after throwing 14.25m in the shot put, to finish in seventh place overall, and running 12.96secs in the hurdles.
Fresh from breaking the British record last week, to make her fifth fastest in the world this season, Ofili-Porter looked in fine form, taking first place in the 100m hurdles in 12.76.
Dwain Chambers won his fifth national 100m title at the age of 33, running a season's best of 10.07secs after his partner had given birth to a baby daughter less than 48 hours previously. The Londoner, who finished sixth at the last world championships in 2009, will hope to go one better in South Korea his year. "The main thing is I have to keep myself healthy and that's going to be difficult because we had a baby girl two nights ago. My duties are going to be double, but hopefully I can repeat my sixth [place finish] from two years ago." Mark Lewis -Francis, the Commonwealth silver medallist, was disqualified after false-starting in the final.
Meanwhile, Charles van Commenee and the UK selectors will have more thinking to do in the men's 400m hurdles after 18-year-old Nathan Woodward won the British title to book his place at the world championships. With Richard Davenport taking second place – an athlete who has not yet run the A-qualifying standard – Van Commenee can select two further athletes to travel to Daegu. European and Commonwealth champion Dai Greene, who did not run in the final after suffering with a virus all week, is guaranteed a discretionary place.
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