Glasgow 2014: Lynsey Sharp positive after defeat

Lynsey Sharp ran her second-fastest 800m at Hampden on Saturday. Picture: Otto Sanderson

Having had time to reflect on her performance in the 800m at Hampden, the European champion thinks she was too self-critical immediately after the race, in which she recorded her second fastest time.

Even so, she knows she could have done better than finishing sixth, and thinks that understanding what went wrong will be the key to doing better the next time she races at the national football stadium, in the Commonwealth Games.

“I’ve learned more from that race than I did from all the others this season put together,” the 24-year-old said yesterday. “I think you usually do learn more from your disappointments than you do when things go right.

“The biggest thing I’ve learned is to stay out of trouble. In Lausanne [when she set a personal best of 1min 59.67sec earlier this month] I ran wide the whole race. On Saturday, we were all bunched up a bit more. Somewhere between the two is perhaps the ideal.”

That sixth place does not tell the whole story, because Sharp was given the same time – 2:00.08 – as fifth-placed Alison Leonard, of England, and was just seven-hundredths of a second behind another Englishwoman, Jessica Judd, who was third. Sharp believes that but for a barge by Rose Mary Almanza, of Cuba, at the top of the home straight, she would have had enough to see off her fellow Britons.

“I was probably a little bit harsh on myself afterwards,” she said. “If not for the Cuban I would probably have battled past some of the girls – it was pretty much a blanket finish. I think it just goes to show the progress that I’ve made,  that I’m disappointed after running my second fastest time.”

Sharp was speaking at Meadowbank Stadium after giving a masterclass, organised by Multipower Sportsfood, for young members of her old club, Edinburgh AC.

Her next stop is Madrid, where she will compete this weekend before returning to Scotland and finalising her preparation for the Games.

• Lynsey Sharp uses Multipower Sportsfood. For sports nutrition tailored to your individual needs visit www.multipower.com