Crawley's Jade Lally qualifies for Rio Olympics

Crawley discus thrower Jade Lally has qualified to take part in this summer's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil by twice breaking the English record.
Jade Lally stands proudly next the scoreboard after setting a new English record in Sydney, Australia SUS-160229-130044002Jade Lally stands proudly next the scoreboard after setting a new English record in Sydney, Australia SUS-160229-130044002
Jade Lally stands proudly next the scoreboard after setting a new English record in Sydney, Australia SUS-160229-130044002

The 2014 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist from Maidenbower broke the English record for the first time on Thursday by throwing 64.22m at the Auckland Track Challenge in New Zealand.

Lally, 28, then broke it again on her way to winning the New South Wales Open Championships in Sydney with a distance of 65.10m.

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Her coach Andrew Neal said: “She obviously benefitted from training indoors in the Tube at Broadbridge Heath prior to leaving for warmer climes!”

This was the longest throw by a British woman since 1983 to move to fourth in the 2016 world rankings.

It also puts her second in the all-time British list behind Scotland’s Margaret Ritchie, who threw 67.48m.

Four years ago she suffered heartache when she failed to reach the qualifying standard and was consquently not selected for the British team to compete at the London 2012 Olympics.

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