LONDON CALLING: Bishop’s easing up after time setback (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

LONDON CALLING: Bishop’s easing up after time setback

11:00am Friday 1st June 2012 in General Sport

DAVID Bishop will now refocus his sights on the Olympic trials after suffering disappointment in chasing a faster time over 1500m.

The Chippenham international could only clock 3mins 48.20secs at the Pfingstsport-fest in Germany on Monday night, more than 10 seconds outside his recent personal best of 3:37.51 that propelled him to fourth in the UK rankings.

Coming on top of his failure to finish the 800m at the Loughborough International it hasn’t been a good couple of weeks for Bishop.

But coach James Thie said he knows what has happened and that the 25-year-old former Hardenhusih School student will be firing on all cylinders at the Olympic trials at the end of June.

“There is no need to panic,” said Thie.

“Sometimes you suffer mini setbacks but I know that Dave’s training has been going really well, perhaps too well on reflection.

“Maybe that left him a bit too tired but we were pushing the envelope in trying to see if Dave could get the UK Athletics A qualifying standard of 3mins 35.5secs.

“He has the B standard but we know that Dave won’t be going to the Olympics with the B standard because the competition is so intense.

“We tried to make it happen and in hindsight maybe we were pushing it too hard. Dave went for it the other night in Germany but it just did not happen.”

Bishop may not race again before the trials on June 23-24 after which the selectors will decide who gets the prized tickets for the Olympics or the not inconsiderable consolation of the European Championships.

“The priority now is to get that sharpness and freshness back into Dave’s legs and make sure he is ready to race at his best at the trials,” added Thie.