Elaine O’Neill says she intends to take plenty of positives from her performance in the 60m final at the Sainsbury’s British Indoor Championships.

O’Neill, from Chippenham, was up against it in Saturday’s 60m showpiece and finished last after clocking a time of 7.69 seconds at Sheffield’s EIS.

In the end it was emerging star Dina Asher-Smith who took the gold medal with a solid display of 7.15 seconds, with Rachel Johncock second and Diani Walker taking the bronze.

But the 25-year-old insists she went into the final with no pressure and just wanted to come away being able to say that she gave it her best – which she is adamant she did.

“I was pleased to get into the final and when I’m in a race I always want to perform and I think I did OK and can’t be too disappointed with the race,” said O’Neill, who was speaking at the event in Sheffield, which sees Sainsbury’s act as the Major Event Series partner of British Athletics.

“I’m going to take the positives from this because that’s the first national final I’ve been in for a while and I really can be happy that I gave it my all.

“Dina Asher-Smith is such a talent so it’s good to run against people like that and test yourself against someone who is clearly going to be a huge star.

“I saw this as an opportunity to run against these top athletes and test myself against the best. I’m just trying to better my times and I think I’m on the right track.

“If everything keeps going the way it is, I’ll have a lot of confidence going forward and can maybe find a rich vein of form.

“I’m not going to say I’m really happy with the race because I’m not that pleased about it and there wasn’t anything special about it.

“I didn’t run that well but I’ve just got to keep going.”

The championships represented the end of O’Neill’s indoor season and she comes out of it knowing exactly what she needs to work on ahead of the outdoors.

“I’ve had Achilles issues but I’ve got over them now. I’m feeling good,” she added.

“This will be my last indoors but when the outdoors comes around I want to do well at the British Championships and see what happens. That’s my only target at the moment.

“This indoor season has highlighted to me what we need to work on.

“I expected a bit more from myself in that semi. I thought I had a good heat so I thought I could have run a bit better.”

  • Sainsbury’s is a proud partner of British Athletics. The partnership reflects Sainsbury’s wider commitment to inspiring healthy lifestyles for all, and complements grassroots campaigns such as Active Kids and the Sainsbury’s School Games.