Athletics: Capital jumpers are aiming high in Kelvin Hall event

Two Capital high jumpers will bring a refreshing touch of Spring to the Scottish Indoor Athletics Championships at the Kelvin Hall tomorrow.

Philadelphia-reared Ray Bobrownicki provided one of the shocks of the weekend when he broke the meeting record at the British Universities Championships staged at Sheffield last weekend and captured the high jump title for Edinburgh.

The 26-year-old Brown University, Rhode Island graduate is studying for a Phd in sports psychology at Edinburgh and he clearly got himself totally psyched up for last week's meeting in which he twice improved his personal best of 2.18 metres to 2.20m and then 2.22m, the best performance ever by a Scottish resident.

"I just want to keep on improving," said Bobrownicki, refusing to speculate on his long-term goals.

Jayne Nisbet (Edinburgh AC) is in no doubt where she wants to be next year and that is in the British Olympic team at London 2012.

"I'm stronger physically and mentally and I'm just a better athlete now than I've ever been."

"I want it more now and when everyone was in Delhi I was training my butt off," said the 22-year-old Loughborough-based personal fitness trainer, who had missed the whole of last season through injury.

With a best of 1.82m, achieved outdoors in 2008, but a best so far this winter of 1.76m, Nisbet is sure to have a fight on her hands tomorrow with clubmate Emma Nuttall, who has cleared a personal best of 1.80m in the current indoor season, a European Under-20 qualifying mark, and who finished second in the BUCS Championships at Sheffield.

But amazingly Nisbet also wants to double up in the triple jump tomorrow, an event she has excelled in the past, setting a Scottish record and going over 13 metres nearly four years ago.

"It's an event I feel I can do well in and I'm still really getting used to it," she explained.

Disappointingly, two of Scotland's most promising middle-distance runners will not be gracing the National meeting.

Guy Learmonth (Lasswade) has opted for the AAA Junior Indoors at the NIA, Birmingham as he chases his ninth Scottish under-20 800m record and the British record of 1:48.53 which just eluded him at Sheffield last Sunday.

Capital-based Mark Mitchell, a former Scottish senior 800m champion who was third in the 1500m at the BUCS Indoors, will contest the North of Scotland Cross Country title which is being staged in Stornaway tomorrow.