Okoro books her ticket to World Indoor Championships

Ziad Chaudry
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
8:39 AM

Marilyn Okoro can now look ahead to next month’s World Indoor Championships after securing her place at Saturday’s Aviva Grand Prix meeting in Birmingham.

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The 27-year-old from Neasden went out all guns blazing during the last lap of the 800m to register a season’s best time of two minutes 2.62 seconds.

That took Okoro, who claimed her second UK indoor title earlier this month in Sheffield, safely inside the World Championships qualifying mark with just under a second to spare.

Her performance on the day was somewhat overshadowed by Poland’s Angelika Cichocka who, from a losing position, overcame four athletes, including Okoro, during the last 200m to cross the line first in a time of 2:01.90.

But Okoro, who returned to the Birmingham track 24 hours later to clock 53.3 in a low key 400m race, was still in understandably jubilant mood after rubber-stamping her trip to Istanbul in March.

“I’ve finally got it, I’m so happy!” said Okoro. “Fitness wise I’m so happy with the shape I’m in. I’ve worked really hard and so far it’s been a really good indoor season for me.

“I’m just going out in each race and learning from it. I’ve got to run those sorts of races for the heats in the World Indoors.

“I was a little bit frustrated that I didn’t really get into my stride [on Saturday], but again I can take confidence from that because I wasn’t feeling too fresh.

“From the field assembled here in Birmingham I consider this as my first real race of the season.”

The Neasden star will do two more 400m runs, including the McCain Indoor City Challenge on March 3 at Lee Valley, before heading to the Turkish capital a few days later in her quest for a medal.