NATHAN Douglas admits he has work to do ahead of next month’s European Indoor Championships, writes STUART WEIR.

The Oxford City AC triple jumper confirmed his place in the Great Britain team for the event in Glasgow, despite missing out on an eighth national title.

Douglas was beaten by just one centimetre by Michael Puplampu in Birmingham.

His second place confirmed selection, but he is determined to improve upon his performance, which included four fouls, as he posted 16.27m.

The 36-year-old said: “I can now go away, do some work and tidy up the technical bits and try to deliver at the Europeans.

“I started cautious and then speeded up and as you get faster it can affect you on the run-up. I kept mistiming my jumps which was frustrating.”

Clubmate Hannah England finished seventh in the 1,500m final.

Running an aggressive race, she held on to second place until the final lap before fading.

The 31-year-old said: “I put myself in the mix, but ran out of legs in the last 200m.”

City’s Ella Turner enjoyed competing on the national stage, setting a personal best of 55.30secs in her 400m heat as she missed out on the final by 0.12secs.

The Matthew Arnold School sixth-former said: “It was good.

“I had quicker runners by my side, so I just wanted to stay with them as much as I could and go for a pb.

“It is amazing just to be here for the experience, running on the same track with people I watch on TV is really cool.”

Abingdon AC’s Ben Claridge was another local athlete to impress, missing out on the men’s 400m final by one hundredth of a second.

He had earlier ran a pb of 47.41secs to win his heat, but did not think he had performed to his best.

“I felt a bit sluggish in the first 200m but managed to hold on for the win,” said the University of Bath student.

Emily Thompson was second to Commonwealth Games silver medallist Lynsey Sharp in her 800m heat.

The Banbury Harriers athlete, whose time of 2mins 7.35secs was the seventh fastest with only six making the final, said: “With the BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) championship this weekend where I am in the 1,500m, I just wanted to run a quick 800 and I knew I would get that with Lynsey alongside me, so I was just trying to keep as close as possible to her.”

City’s Alice Hopkins set a pb of 6.15m for seventh in the long jump and was also sixth in her 60m hurdles heat.

The 20-year-old said: “I love being here with the crowd and the atmosphere.”