Marathon trials winners Chris Thompson and Steph Davis named in Olympic team with Ben Connor and race walker Tom Bosworth, as Jess Piasecki and Steph Twell are picked ahead of Charlie Purdue

The selection of marathon runners Chris Thompson, Steph Davis, Ben Connor and race walker Tom Bosworth for the Tokyo Olympics today (April 1) is no surprise. They earned automatic qualification for the Games after finishing in the first two in the trials at Kew Gardens and have qualifying times.

But the decision to pick Jess Piasecki and Steph Twell ahead of Charlotte Purdue for the final two discretionary places in the women’s marathon must have been a tough call for selectors. None of the three women raced in the trials and their best times in the past are 2:25:28 for Piasecki, 2:25:38 for Purdue and 2:26:40.

Piasecki clocked her time when winning in Florence in November 2019. Purdue’s best came in London in April 2019. Twell’s was in Frankfurt in October 2019. Together they rank respectively third, fourth and sixth on the UK all-time rankings.

But Piasecki has not raced since 2019. Purdue only raced once in 2020 and hasn’t competed this year after being a last-minute withdrawal from the trials. Twell, however, raced three times last year and once this year, although this included a DNF in the London Marathon last October.

For Twell it will be her third Olympic Games having made her debut in the 1500m in 2008 aged 19.

In the men’s marathon, Callum Hawkins was pre-selected in December 2019 and helped pace at the trials on Friday (March 26). But this means Jonny Mellor misses out due to Thompson and Connor gaining the final two automatic spots.

Mellor ran faster than Thompson’s winning time at the trials on two occasions in 2020 but missed the trials last week due to an ankle injury.

In the 20km race walks, trials winner Callum Wilkinson hopes to join Bosworth if he can beat the 81:00 qualifying standard in coming weeks. Bosworth was not in great shape in the trials due to injury but hopes to improve on his sixth place at the last Olympics in Tokyo.

Sara Symington, the UK Athletics performance director, said: “We are really pleased to be announcing the first seven members of the athletics team for the Tokyo Olympic Games. I want to congratulate all the athletes on their selection. It is a significant milestone in their careers, and a proud moment for them, their coaches and support teams, family and friends.

“Focus now turns to making sure they are prepared for that start line in Sapporo, so we will be supporting the athletes to achieve their goals at the Games.”