Bishop wants to make selectors take notice (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Bishop wants to make selectors take notice

6:00am Thursday 21st June 2012 in Wiltshire Sport

DAVE Bishop admits he’ll be looking to prove a point to the British selectors at this weekend’s Olympic trials after being overlooked for the European Championships.

The Chippenham middle-distance runner was left out of the GB team for the championships in Helsinki, with Andy Baddeley, James Brewer, Tom Lancashire, Ross Murray and James Shane taking up the 1500m places for the competition that begins at the end of this month.

But Bishop, whose personal best time of 3:37.51 set in California in April is the fourth-fastest 1500m time in the country so far this year, is clear to concentrate on his goal of reaching the Olympic Games.

“There were five people picked and on season bests, I’m faster than three of them (Brewer, Lancashire and Shane), so I was a bit surprised,” said Bishop.

“I’ll have to try and prove a point by running faster than some of them at the trials but it lets me focus on the trials and trying to get to the Olympics.

“I’m feeling pretty confident about it and I’m looking forward to trying to get through my heat comfortably.”

The 1500m heats take place on Friday, with the final on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Trowbridge’s Danny Talbot knows his hopes of qualifying for the Olympic Games in London boil down to just one day this weekend.

A late start to the season due to hamstring and hip problems means that Talbot goes into the trials, incorporated into the Aviva UK Athletics Championships, knowing that he needs not only to finish in the top three but also run inside the qualifying standard.

While his rivals have been focusing on the trials, Talbot has had to contend with a disruptive injury which, while not serious, could have easily proved a fatal distraction from his ultimate goal.

A hasty trip to Slovenia last week, when he suffered disqualification in the 200m before being surprisingly reinstated after faulty electronic timing equipment was discovered before he clocked a season’s best of 20.71 seconds, would have hardly helped.

But the Trowbridge Tornado followed that up with an time of 10.24 seconds in the 100m, lifting him to sixth-quickest in Britain this year and, after a late entry, added the Aviva England Athletics Under 23 men’s title over 200m.