Hannah England has said that she is "relieved" to have come through a tough heat to qualify for the final of the women's 1,500m at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The England runner, 27, notched up a season's best 4:05.62 in Glasgow this morning to finish fourth in her heat and fourth overall ahead of tomorrow night's final.
"I'm really pleased with that, I'm glad it was fast," England told Sports Mole moments after the race. "[It's] a bit of a relief what with a quality field. With being the first heat I was almost more relaxed, and just went through that [first] 800m fast. It felt good.
"It was a bit nerve-wracking in the last 50m. I was trying not to think about it but I'm always bad in semi-finals. Both of the last two World Championships I've only made it through as fastest loser, so that's one of my better semi-final performances today."
England added that she expects a "great race" in the final, where she will be hoping to improve on her fourth-place finish at the 2010 Commonwealths in Delhi. "Unfortunately the field is a lot deeper than it was four years ago," she conceded, "but I'm a lot better than I was then myself so hopefully I can do better."
The final of the women's 1,500m gets underway at 9.50pm on Tuesday at Hampden Park.
Barney Corkhill
