Last updated at 10:25, Saturday, 31 March 2012

Carlisle's Olympic Games hopeful Lee Doran will get a taste of what could be next month when he competes in the new £486 million London stadium.

Lee Doran

Doran is one of two senior athletes invited to compete at the British Universities Championships on the weekend of May 6 and 7.

The event will be staged in the Olympic stadium as it will be an official dress rehearsal for officials who will oversee the Games.

Around 40,000 spectators are expected to the British Universities Championships and Olympic organisers will have the chance to test traffic flow, routes to the stadium, facilities and emergency procedures.

For Doran, it will be another chance to secure his qualification for the Olympics – a feat he is confident of achieving after his impressive opening performance of the year when he threw 75.40 at Loughborough. It put him within touching distance of the qualifying mark as the 26-year-old, from Morton, needs to throw either 79.50m twice to hit the ‘B’ standard qualification or 82m on one occasion to achieve the ‘A’ standard.

He came agonisingly close to securing his place at the Olympics when he threw a personal best of 78.63m to win last summer’s Aviva UK World Trials and Championships in Birmingham.

And he admits he will get all the inspiration he needs when he competes in the Olympic stadium.

Doran said: “It is a chance to sample what it will be like.

Although the stadium won’t be as full as it will be for the actual Olympic Game, it will still be a chance to see what the atmosphere will be like.

“UK athletics have been allocated two places for athletes to compete at the British Universities Championships and I am one of them.

“This is a great chance for the organisers to get the preparations right, and it will be inspiring to be part of it.”

Before that Doran flies out to Tunisia on April 8 for two weeks warm-weather training with his coach John Davies, and will also compete as a guest at the country’s national championships.

He then travels to Portugal with the GB squad to train under the guidance of national javelin coach Esa Utrainen as the countdown to the Olympics begins in earnest.

Doran added: “I don’t aim to peak until the end of May or June so it’s a case now of building up to that.

“I am in heavy training now and will be working closely with my coaches to get myself in peak condition.”

First published at 08:57, Saturday, 31 March 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk