Azu eyes Olympic 'dream' but Courtney-Bryant misses out

Wales’ fastest man will make his Olympic debut in Paris this summer.

Jeremiah Azu took silver in the men’s 100m at the UK Athletics Championships on which double as the Great Britain trials.

The 23-year-old from Cardiff finished 0.07 seconds behind Louie Hinchliffe in Manchester with the pair both confirming their place in France.

"Going to the Olympics is what I've dreamt of since I started the sport," said Azu, the first Welsh sprinter to break 10 seconds in the 100m.

"Hopefully we [the relay team] can walk away with medals and I can reach the individual final. Once you're in a final, anything can happen."

However, there was disappointment for Melissa Courtney-Bryant who was agonisingly close to joining Azu in Paris.

The 30-year-old had the qualifying standard in the women’s 1500m and needed a top-two finish to make the Games but finished fourth, less than a second behind Laura Muir in second.

It was the second Olympic heartbreak for Courtney-Bryant, a World Championship finalist last year, having missed out on the Tokyo Olympics with a foot injury.

Piers Copeland was also aiming to qualify in the men’s 1500m but finished ninth.

Elsewhere, there were silver medals for both Freya Jones in the women’s javelin and Patrick Swan in the men’s shot put, though neither had secured the Olympic qualifying standard.

Pembrokeshire teenager Gracie Griffiths took gold in the women’s 5000m race walk.

Former Wales under-18 international rugby player Harrison Walsh finished as the leading para athlete in the men’s discus as he aims to secure his place at the Paralympics