Jayne Nisbet will go for a unique double in the Scottish Indoor National Track and Field Championships in Glasgow on Saturday to jump-start her bid to reach next year’s Olympic Games.
The 22-year-old from Edinburgh plans to compete in both the high jump and triple jump at the Kelvin Hall event as she continues her comeback following a year in which injuries forced her to skip the entire season.
It left the former national champion to watch the Commonwealth Games from the outside and to re-assess her entire approach to athletics. However after a positive return at this month’s UK Championships, where she finished fifth behind Jessica Ennis, the revamped Nisbet feels ready to make a push into contention for London 2012.
“I feel in front of where I was before,” she said. “I’m stronger physically and mentally. I’m just a better athlete now than I ever had been. I want it more now. When everyone was in Delhi, I was training my ass off.
“I work as a personal trainer most of the time but I can fit my training around it. I took a lot of time to evaluate what I needed to be a better athlete: lifestyle-wise, nutrition, what would make me strong. I now realise how my body works whereas when I was younger and more naïve, I’d just push on. The past year’s been a good learning curve.”
In the high jump, she faces stiff competition from young rival Emma Nuttall who has already achieved the European Under-20 Qualifying standard this season. While in her new event, the triple jump, Nisbet is looking for signs that her daily sessions at Loughborough are paying off.
“I’m still really getting used to it,” she admitted. “But it’s an event I feel I can do well in.”
Elsewhere, Gemma Werrett – who equalled the Scottish 60m hurdles record when taking bronze in the UK Championships – will bid to break her native mark of 8.50 seconds. Another UK bronze medallist, Jade Nimmo, starts as favourite in the long jump.
Fast-improving Eilish McColgan, who took silver at the UK Championships, goes in the 1500m while her training partners in Dundee, Sarah Kelly and Jenny Tan clash over 800m.
The men’s high jump sees David Smith, who improved his lifetime best this year to 2.17m, goes head to head with Ray Bobrownicki who cleared 2.22m last weekend in Sheffield.
The men’s pole vault is also set to be a close competition between Commonwealth Games athlete Richard Hurren and Gregor MacLean who has improved significantly this year with 5.11m.
The Scottish Indoor Championships starts at 10am on Saturday February 23. Entry is £2.
The full timetable and can be found here
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