Last updated at 11:53, Monday, 25 June 2012

Lee Doran has not given up on his Olympic dream – but admits his hopes of appearing at London 2012 are hanging precariously in the balance.

Lee Doran

Doran retained his national javelin title at the Aviva 2012 Trials in Birmingham with a personal best of 79.72 metres.

But winning was not enough with the 27-year-old still needing to record the 82 metre Olympic A standard to guarantee his slot.

British number one Mervyn Luckwell has gone beyond that distance this season but was absent from the trials at the Alexander Stadium.

“I’m delighted to win the national title again but I really wanted a throw of over 80 metres to get closer to that elusive A standard,” he said.

“The crowd was amazing here and it only gives an indication of what home support can do ahead of the Olympics.

“Unfortunately, the weather conditions weren’t as good, so I can have no real complaints.

“I really didn’t know what to expect because I came here with a bit of a niggle with my Achilles, so a personal best is no bad thing in the circumstances.”

But Doran – who finished fifth in his major championship debut at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi – is running out of chances to record the extra couple of metres he needs before British team officials shut the door on the selection window at the end of this month.

He was not named in the provisional team for this week’s European Championships in Helsinki but hopes his performance in Birmingham could earn him a late call-up for the plane to Finland.

Otherwise he’ll be hunting other meetings in the next week to get the distance he needs.

“I still hopeful to go to the European Championships - that would be my best chance of achieving the qualifying standard but it’s in the hands of the team officials now,” he added.

“I hope what I’ve done here will give me a chance of going but I’m still slightly in the dark and I can only hope now.

“I really feel I’m starting to build some momentum now and I find I perform better at big championships, with all the crowd noise and atmosphere.

“I feel in the shape to throw further, I just hope I get the right chance to be able to do that.”

Doran though was inspired by the performance of Roald Bradstock, who finished second at the trials despite recently celebrating his 50th birthday.

Bradstock was part of Team GB at Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 and threw an age group world record to claim silver.

“I’m nearly half his age and he’s still competitive – it’s certainly impressive,” he said.

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First published at 11:28, Monday, 25 June 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk