Herne Hill Harriers Kristal Awuah continued her European Indoor Championships preparations with a 7.24sec sixth place post at müller Grand Prix IAAF World Indoor Tour meet in Birmingham last Saturday, writes Ziad Chaudry.

The 19-year-old from Tooting Bec finished behind a world class women's 60m field with Jamaica's double Olympic sprint champion Elaine Thompson winning in 7.13, current European champion Asha Philip second in 7.14 and Ivory Coast's Marie-Josée Ta Lou third in 7.15.

Also in Birmingham fellow local sprinters Theo Etienne and Confidence Lawson are both preparing for the forthcoming summer outdoor season with hopes on qualifying for the IAAF World Championships.

Hercules Wimbledon AC's Etienne clocked 6.65 in his men's 60 heat. "I just got to piece it together one bit at a time," he said. "I just got to see what I do in my own race and then we go from there. It's just work in progress right now.

And Mitcham-based Lawson recorded 6.69 in his heat that featured eventual winner China's Su Bingtian and Richard Kilty. "It's nice to be here in the mix," he said. "With the shape I was in I was hoping for the best but it didn't go my way. In my head I felt I could have done so much better but obviously when it comes to reality I could only do the best to my ability.

"I'm now going back to hard training again, the sky's the limit so I'm going to have fun with it."