Leon Reid: Sprinter in World Championship frame after third place in GB trials

Northern Ireland sprinter Leon Reid is in contention for World Championship selection after finishing a superb third in the 200m at the GB trials.

English-born Reid has been considering switching international allegiance to Ireland but now could represent Britain in London next month.

Reid, 22, guaranteed his Commonwealth Games selection for Northern Ireland with two stunning runs on Sunday.

After clocking 20.59 in the heats, he improved his PB to 20.38 in the final.

That came as he produced a stunning late run in the outside lane to pip 2015 World Championship fifth-placer Zharnel Hughes (20.42) for third spot in Birmingham.

Reid's final time was 0.06 seconds inside UK Athletics World Championship standard and also broke Paul Brizzell's Northern Ireland record of 20.54 set in 2000.

Gemili only manages sixth place

Those behind Reid also included Rio Olympics fourth-placer Adam Gemili who could only clock 20.97 to take sixth, as he appeared bothered by a thigh injury.

Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake won the title in a championship record of 20.18 as he finished 0.02 ahead of Danny Talbot, with both men now guaranteed world championship selection.

Bristol sprinter Reid's performances on Sunday meant he became the 11th Northern Ireland athlete to achieve a Gold Coast mark.

Later on Sunday, heptathlete Kate O'Connor added to Northern Ireland's Games qualifiers as she improved her own Northern Ireland record to 5632 points at a meeting in Spain.

That added over 300 points to the total she set in April and also exceeded the Athletics Northern Ireland consideration standard of 5550 points.

Reid, who competed at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, set his previous 200m best of 20.62 in 2015.

Amy Foster achieved the Commonwealth Games 100m consideration standard for a second time on Sunday

Both Reid's times were well under Athletics Northern Ireland's 200m consideration time of 20.77.

In all events bar long distance races and the combined events, Northern Ireland track and field athletes will need to achieve qualifying standards on two occasions to completely satisfy Athletics NI's selection criteria.

However, the Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games Council will have the final say on the number of track and field athletes on the plane to Australia.

Earlier this year, Reid began moves to switch international allegiance to Ireland although the IAAF's subsequent decision to put a block on moves appeared to leave the sprinter's application in limbo.

As it stands, he still remains a British athlete and his performance in Birmingham could put him in the frame for a place in the GB 4x100m relay squad as well as a 200m spot.

200m specialist Reid has won European junior and European under-23 medals for Britain.

Meanwhile, Amy Foster also boosted her hopes of achieving Commonwealth Games selection after she clocked a time of 11.42 to win the 100m at a meeting in Switzerland on Sunday.

Foster clocked 11.42 seconds at the Resisprint meeting in La Chaux-de-Fonds which was the second occasion she has ducked under Athletics Northern Ireland's consideration standard of 11.44.