Great Yarmouth shot put prodigy Sophie McKinna is hoping to use her Olympic trials event experience as a springboard for medal success in next week’s World Junior Athletics Championships in Spain.
Sophie, 17, finished fourth against her senior rivals at the Birmingham meeting, but has her eyes firmly fixed on the medals in the Barcelona event from July 10-15 at the 1992 Olympics Stadium.
After her Birmingham display Sophie said: “I was a bit disappointed with my distance – to come fourth is always disappointing.
“But coming off the back of a 16-metre throw from last weekend and with the conditions in Birmingham and with the Alexander Stadium being slightly uphill, it was OK. It wasn’t fantastic but I am looking forward to the World Juniors now. Being at Birmingham was a great warm-up for the World Juniors and hopefully I will just be able to improve from the experience of being at big competitions like this.
“I believe at the minute I am ranked fifth or sixth in the world heading into the World Juniors but for me that is not good enough, I always want to be in those podium positions.”
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