Sotherton well placed to lead British medal hopefuls

Gold medal hopeful Kelly Sotherton lies fifth in the heptathlon in Beijing after two events.

Sotherton began with a personal best of 13.18 seconds in the 100metres hurdles, earning her 1,097 to lie fourth.

She then cleared 1.83m in the high jump, but three failures at 1.86m – a centimetre off her best – ended her participation, while leader Hyleas Fountain, who won Sotherton’s hurdles heat, cleared 1.89m.

Sotherton earned 2,113 points in her first two events, 138 behind the impressive Fountain.

Julie Hollman is down in 24th place with 1,859 points after 14.43 in the 100m hurdles and 1.77m in the high jump.

Britain’s three 100m men all booked their places in tonight’s second round after the heats.

Craig Pickering was first to qualify as he came third in the same heat as Jamaica’s much-fancied Asafa Powell in a time of 10.21.

But the star for the Brits was Tyrone Edgar, who won heat six in a time of 10.13, before Simeon Williamson grabbed third place in his heat to also progress.

Britain’s 800m duo Jennifer Meadows and Marilyn Okoro both safely progressed to tomorrow’s semi-finals after finishing third and second respectively.

A disappointing morning in the pool saw just Lizzie Simmonds earn a positive result as she qualified for the 200m backstroke final.

Simmonds finished third in her heat to book her place in the final, but team-mate Gemma Spofforth missed out after being the ninth-fastest qualifier.

Elsewhere, Francesca Halsall trailed in last in the 100m freestyle final, as did Gregor Tait in the 200m backstroke.

Liam Tancock also finished last in the 200m individual medley final, with team-mate James Goddard two ahead of him in sixth.

Beckie Downie claimed a creditable 12th place in the final of the women’s gymnastics all-around competition.

Downie qualified 19th out of the 24 competitors but produced good performances in the vault and uneven bars in particular to finish just outside the top 10 with a total score of 59.450.

Alan Wills failed to progress to the quarter-finals of the men’s individual archery after a narrow defeat to Cuba’s Juan Carlos Stevens.

Wills looked to be heading through as he led 79-78 ahead of the final end, but the Cuban produced a faultless end of 30 points to eventually prevail 108-104.

“I was the best prepared I could have been today, but I just didn’t shoot my best,” said Wills.

“I felt a bit subdued, usually I shoot with more aggression. Obviously I’m absolutely gutted.”

Judoka Karina Bryant lost her opening fight to Mexico’s Vanessa Zambotti, and must now watch the victor’s progress to discover if she goes into the repechage.

Jonathan Hammond failed to qualify for the mens’ 50m rifle prone shooting event after finishing 34th with a score of 589 out of his 600 shots.

“I felt like I shot pretty well,” said Hammond. “I didn’t shoot too many bad shots, but I struggled with the wind. It was really tough, and the scores reflect that.

“A few of the guys got it right and shot well, but I found it really tough and did the best I could on the day.

“I was happy with my start. I shot a 99 and felt like I was going to find a way to get into it, but the wind really got up and the conditions just bit me in the behind on the second and third (series). After that it was all catch up.”