Eilish McColgan underlined her capacity to qualify for the Olympic Games as she took victory in her first 3000 metres steeplechase in almost a year, writes Mark Woods.

The 21-year-old ran 9:48.09 at the IFAM meeting in Belgium, just short of UK Athletics B standard for London 2012.

The time was only four seconds outside her previous best, set last August in the race at Crystal Palace in which McColgan sustained a broken foot.

n John Mutai saved his best for last as he produced a blistering final sprint to win the Edinburgh Marathon for the second time.

The veteran led home a Kenyan 1-2-3 as he raced to the finish line in 2hr, 19min 52sec after out-pacing rival Simon Kasimili as the two made a late break from the chasing pack.

Scottish champion Ross Houston was fifth in a personal best of 2:21:04 after bravely leading for most of the first 20 miles. Natalia Lehonkova from Ukraine was the first woman home in 2:39:48 with pre-race favourite Hayley Haining third in her first marathon since the birth of her first child 20 months ago.

n Scotland's Steph Twell was a lowly 14th in her first outdoor 1500 metres of 2012 last night in Hengelo, Netherlands. The Commonwealth Games medallist ran 4:09.59 in a race won by British rival Hannah England

Rose Anderson, the Edinburgh-born guard has survived the penultimate cull of the GB squad to just 14 players ahead of today's opening friendly against Croatia.

Inverurie's Freyja Prentice looks like missing out on London 2012 in spite of achieving the qualifying standard. England's Heather Fell, silver medallist in Beijing, won a silver medal at the World Cup final in Chengdu, China, at the weekend to improve her chances of making the team. If she qualifies on the Olympic ranking list, it would leave four British girls with the qualifying standard with only two places available.

David McNamee's best result in a World Cup race yesterday, finishing 17th in Madrid, keeps alive his slim hopes of earning the last place in the GB team.

Kilmarnock's Peter Kirkbride achieved the Ollympic B standard for the second time at the British Championships, winning the Under-94kg title.