Athletics: Steph Twell relishes her return to action after ankle injury

SCOTLAND international Steph Twell is glad to be back after coming fifth in her first major race in nine months.

The 22-year-old, who missed most of this year after breaking her ankle in February, earned a place at next month’s European Cross Country Championships with a brave run at Saturday’s trials in Liverpool, ending up 32 seconds adrift of winner Hattie Dean.

“I loved it,” said Twell. “I felt myself again and coming through the way I did really gave me confidence.” Fellow Scot Freya Murray underlined her own return from injury by coming third to cement her spot in Great Britain’s squad for the Euros in Slovenia on 11 December, leading Edinburgh AC to team gold.

Andy Vernon won the men’s race at Sefton Park, while there could be three Scots in the GB squad today after Derek Hawkins, Matthew Graham and Matt Gillespie came second, third and fourth in the under-23 race, won by Mitch Goose.

• Dai Greene’s gold medal-winning hurdles run at the world championships was named as Performance of the Year at the Aviva UK Athletics Awards in London on Saturday. Malcolm Arnold, who coaches both Greene and Scotland’s Commonwealth medallist Eilidh Child, was awarded the Elite Coach of the Year prize. Henry Muchamore, a central figure at both Haddington Pacemakers and East Lothian Athletics Development Group, was named as the Volunteer of the Year.