JADE O’Dowda has climbed to third in the British senior heptathlon rankings after a fine performance in Italy.
The Oxford City AC star scored a personal best 5,505 points to finish 12th in a 30-strong field at the IAAF Combined Events Challenge Meeting in Firenze.
As a result, O’Dowda achieved the qualifying standard for the IAAF World Under 20 Championships in Tampere, Finland, which takes place on July 10-15.
She now knows that victory at the national championships at the end of the month will guarantee her a place in the team.
O’Dowda put together a solid set of performances in Italy, including a pb of 11.88m in the shot.
The teenager, now ranked the fifth best under 20 heptathlete in the world, then finished strongly in the 800m, taking two seconds off her pb.
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