Shot-putter Amelia Stricker may have been disappointed with her summer domestic debut, but the Thames Valley Harrier is optimistic she is in the sort of shape required to reach the World Athletics Championships later this year.

Despite easily picking up maximum points in Cardiff, Strickler was the best part of a metre below her best as she recorded 17.34m in Cardiff last Saturday. That was after 16.93m in the opening round and before she struggled with her technique to register four fouls in succession.

Having competed for Britain at the World Indoor Championships in March, she believes she is in or around the best shape of life. It was only last summer, during the NAL match at Wormwood Scrubs, that she threw her PB of 18.11m.

That performance was boosted by her anger at not being named on Britain’s team for the Olympics. However, despite turning out regularly for the team in blue, she believes bigger throws will come outside of the league against better competition.

Assessing her performance, she said: “Rough day at the office but it’s my first one back in the UK and I didn’t really have a lot of competition to push me forward so I’m looking forward to getting into some good competition coming up so hopefully that’ll spur me on because I know I’m in good shape, I just need to put it together. 

“I’m looking forward to some European meets with some good competition to spur me on.”

She already has the England Commonwealth Games standard and her PB puts her 9cm short of the mark required for the Europeans. However, she is aiming higher at the 18.50m required for Eugene.

“I definitely would like the World standard,” she said. “I think it’s possible. I just need some more competition.”