London 2012 Olympics: Trio of British women shake off their injuries to make it into semi-finals

 
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6 August 2012

Entering the Olympic Stadium this morning may have felt like a step into the unknown for a trio of British athletes as they took to their respective start lines.

But Tiffany Porter, Hannah England and Lisa Dobriskey, all of whom have suffered injury or illness setbacks in the build-up to the Games, looked comfortable in the morning heats.

Porter, who has been based in London since May to fine tune her Olympic preparations, left the track in tears in her last outing at the London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace in July with an injury she feared might scupper her Games ambitions.

But the 24-year-old, a genuine medal contender in the 100m hurdles, had no problems as she qualified for tomorrow night’s semi-final by finishing third in her heat in a time of 12.79sec.

“I’m okay and very confident,” she said. “I’m very confident I can improve. That was very comfortable. The objective here was to come out, execute and go through to the next round and I’m very happy that I did that today. That’s the first one out of the way.”

Porter had already declared herself fit at the holding camp in Portugal but she still admitted “I’ve been very anxious to get out there.”

Fellow Briton Jessica Ennis had been down to compete in the second of six heats but pulled out of it after winning heptathlon gold on Saturday.

The 100m hurdles time she set in the heptathlon, 12.54sec, would have seen her through to tomorrow’s hurdles semi-finals as the fastest qualifier. Instead, gold medal favourite Sally Pearson set the pace with 12.57.

Like Porter, Hannah England struggled at Crystal Palace where she finished dead last and came into the Olympics well short of race sharpness.

Her 1500m outdoor debut of 4min 04.5sec in Hengelo, Holland, was her season’s best but in the latter stages of that race, she was spiked in her Achilles, which led to six weeks out and a stint in hospital with an infection.

Going into the first heat, she ran a measured race to finish fifth, a second and half outside her Hengelo mark but the time was irrelevant, and she gave herself a congratulatory clap as she crossed the line.

England, who won silver at last year’s World Championships, said: “I felt like myself. I felt like I had presence in the race. I felt like that last year in Daegu, I felt like I belonged and it’s nice to feel like that again after my time out.”

Dobriskey’s 1500m passage into the semi-finals has been even more tumultuous after blood clots were found on her lungs, which led doctors to recommend she take at least six months off. The Ashford athlete was back far earlier and was impressive in winning her heat. She said she relished the chance in front of another sell-out crowd after “it was almost taken away from me”.

“I had such a terrible season last year with injuries and illness,” she said. “I was just really, really grateful to be on the start line.” Cheered on my her parents and her nine-year-old nephew Joshua, she added: “Hopefully I made him proud of me.”

The pair were joined in the semis by the third Briton in these heats, Laura Weightman, who is coached by Steve Cram. She said her goal was to finish sixth and qualify automatically, which is exactly what she did.

There was mixed news for the British men’s 800m runners in the heats. Gareth Warburton and Michael Rimmer failed to make it any further, both finishing fifth, but Harlow-born Andrew Osagie was third in his heat behind favourite David Rudisha, of Kenya, and qualified for tomorrow’s semi-finals. Osagie said: “I was nervous as I’m always rubbish in the mornings,” before adding that the performances of his athletics teammates in the Olympic Stadium inspired him to qualify.

“The performances over the weekend helped my race,” he said of the three golds and silver already won by Britain. “If you don’t run well, you’re going to be the laughing stock of the team. No one wants to go out in the heats. The whole team has been brilliant and the crowd has been unbelievable.”

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