HANNAH England could not hide her delight at winning 1,500m gold for the first time at the British Indoor Championships in Sheffield, writes STUART WEIR.

The Oxford City runner won in 4mins 15.44secs, building on her strong performance at last week’s Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix.

As a result, England has qualified for the World Indoor Championships in Portland on March 17-21, but unless she and her coach have a late change of plan, will go altitude training in France instead.

England beat training partner Alison Leonard in Sheffield and was thrilled to maintain her good start to 2016.

She said: “I was really pleased as I have never won the British Indoor 1,500 before – although I did win the 3,000 once.

“Every performance this year has been faster than the equivalent last year so I am very pleased.

“Sometimes I am guilty of over-writing my race plan and I decided to run instinctively and use my experience.

“I train with Alison Leonard every day so I was very conscious of her, as I know she is in great shape”.

Oxford City’s Nathan Douglas missed out on guaranteed selection for the World Indoors, taking silver in the triple jump.

The 33-year-old started with a foul, followed by 15.93m, but then had to withdraw after pinching his knee in the first round.

For Douglas the focus is now away from Portland and on making sure he is fully fit for the outdoor season.

He said: “In Glasgow last week I struggled with my run-up so the plan here was to get the first one in and build from there.

“So it was frustrating (to foul) as my opening jump was probably about 16.40.

“I could feel my knee but tried to push it for the second jump and it was too sore to jump after that.

“The Olympic year is too important to mess around.

“I am disappointed as I wanted to win and be British Champion but I thought, take a rest and come back fresh for the outdoor season.”

Lawrence Clarke took silver in the 60m hurdles.

The 25-year-old, from Christmas Common, near Watlington, will run in Portland if selected tomorrow.

Clarke crossed in a time of 7.65secs and was “very pleased” despite finishing behind Andrew Pozzi.

He added: “It was a great race and I am very pleased to come away with another national championship medal and to run the world championship qualifying time again.”