Martin Brockman pulled out of his second straight event

by Alex Hoad

Martin Brockman’s Olympic decathlon hopes suffered a major blow as he failed to complete the Arona Combined Events competition in Tenerife.

The 24-year-old from Maidstone pulled out of his second straight event early while sitting fifth in the standings after four events.

Brockman finished the 100m in 11.61s, long-jumped 7.14 which was third-best, was second in the shot with 13.97 and high-jumped 1.94, fourth-best in the field at the weekend, to sit on 3,053pts before withdrawing.

To make matters worse, Brockman’s rival for TeamGB’s sole place, Dan Awde, won the competition in style, recording a new PB of 8,102 which broke the Olympic B qualifying standard.

Awde is seeking to reach his second straight Olympics having competed in Beijing.

Meanwhile, Jack Green had mixed emotions after his international season opener in Rabat, Morocco, on Sunday evening.

The 400m hurdler, a former pupil at Brockhill, Hythe, finished third behind World Champion and training partner Dai Green in 2nd and winner Felix Sanchez (48.93) in a time of 49.45.

It was good enough to beat the Olympic A qualifying time for the first time this season, but still some way behind the 20-year-old’s Personal Best of 48.98.

Snodland-born Green admitted he was ‘a bit gutted,’ and said: “It was my fastest ever for this time of the season but I always want more. My 400m hurdles career so far - could have, should have, would have, didn’t.”

Team GB can enter three men into the 400mH and Green is currently third fastest of five who have achieved the A standard.