By Owen Morgan
Four Welsh athletes have been named in the 78-strong Great Britain team for next month’s World Championships in London.
For race walker Bethan Davies and marathon runner Josh Griffiths the announcement was confirmation of their selection, having already qualified for the championships in their respective events.
But for sprint hurdler David Omoregie the news ended a nervous wait after missing out on automatic selection, while distance runner Andrew Davies was selected as a replacement for the injured Robbie Simpson in the marathon.
Cardiff AAC hurdler Omoregie missed out on sealing an automatic place at the British Championships and World Trials at Birmingham earlier this month.
Having already achieved the World Championships standard time, a top two finish at the trials would have sealed the Welshman’s place.
The former Pembrokeshire Harriers junior won his heat in impressive style, but in the final he hit the first hurdle and eventually finished fifth.
As a result Omoregie had to depend on the selectors’ discretion and hope they acknowledged his excellent performance earlier in the season, including posting a season’s best time of 13.34 in the European Team Championships in Lille where he won bronze.
Joining Omoregie in the Great Britain team is Newtown based marathon runner Andrew Davies.
As the third highest British finisher at this year’s London Marathon, the full-time college lecturer has stepped in to replace the injured Robbie Simpson, who was the second Briton to cross the line on the Mall back in April.
The first Briton home on that day was Ammanford’s Josh Griffiths, whose remarkable performance in his first marathon automatically booked his place on the British team.
The Swansea Harrier finished 13th in the men’s standings with a time of two hours 14 minutes 49 seconds
The other Welsh athlete to qualify automatically for the GB squad is race walker Bethan Davies, who booked her place at the British Grand Prix of Race Walking held at Roundhay Park, Leeds in June.
Davies finished second to Gemma Bridge in the women’s 20km British Championship race, clocking a Welsh record of 93 mins 38 secs – the third fastest time ever by a British athlete.
Commenting on her qualification for the World Championships, Bethan said: “It’s the biggest competition I will ever have been to, I can’t really believe it to be honest, I’m kind of in a bit of a state of shock at the moment.
“I’m really looking forward to it, getting all of the family down to London to cheer me on. They’ve already planned a lot of things! So it’s going to be one amazing time.
“In 2012 I was a spectator for the women’s 20k and the 50k and went down to watch on the Mall and the atmosphere is amazing. It was that which actually inspired me to properly take up race walking, because I’d only just started then.
“I thought to myself, ‘well if I’m going to do this I’m going to do it like that’ and now I am! So, yes, it’s a little bit of a fairytale.
“All the people I know from around the world have said that The Mall was one of their favourite places to race and the fact that I’m British, it’s our iconic venue so that’s going to be amazing.”
There may be further places up for grabs on the Great Britain team with a second and final selection meeting being held on July 24 where any events with unfilled places or available Home Nation slots will be discussed.