Bolton Harrier Hannah Kelly again showed her potential at the British Championships at SportCity.

The Championships also double up as the qualifying event for selection to the World Athletics Championship to be held in Oregon, USA later this month.

But Kelly, lining up against the elite female athletes in the country over 400m, had less thought about selection for the World Championships but more about cementing her place towards the top of the UK rankings.

Conditions were tough and the wind in the home straight was gusting up to +5.5m/s, which meant the 400m runners had a big headwind on the back straight.

It was unlikely that athletes would run best times in those conditions so placing was all important.

Kelly ran a very controlled race, hitting her split times at 200m and 300m and finishing her heat in third place.

Qualifying for the final were the winners of each of the four heats plus the four fastest losers and after heat three, Kelly was lying in fourth fastest-loser spot.

However, a place in the final was not to be as she finished ninth quickest of the athletes and missed out on a final spot by 0.25 seconds.

Although initially disappointed, she realised to finish ninth in these championships is a huge achievement against older and more experienced runners.

Kelly next competes at the England Athletics Under-23 championships where she is defending champion.