19 January 2011

With just 555 days to go until the beginning of the 2012 Olympic Games, UKA today published the first set of Olympic qualification standards and provisional selection policy for marathon, walks, combined events and 10,000m.

The standards and policy will act as an interim guideline to support athlete planning, ahead of the full publication of qualification standards from the IAAF which are expected in early Spring.

Prominent athletes affected range from World and European heptathlete Jessica Ennis to GB’s marathon specialists Paula Radcliffe and Mara Yamauchi.

Double European champion Mo Farah and Commonwealth gold medallist Jo Jackson will also work to the policy.

Athletes in these disciplines have an extended period to qualify compared to others because the nature of their events mean they compete less and have prolonged recovery periods.

The policy can be found at http://www.uka.org.uk/world-class/2011-selection-policies/

UKA will issue a final selection policy for all disciplines after the IAAF publishes the qualification standards. The qualification period for all other disciplines begins on 1 October 2011.