Samson Oni warmed up for next month’s World Indoor Championships in style with a high-jump victory for London South Sharks at the McCain City Challenge, writes Liz Birchall.

Oni leaped 2.25m at the Aviva World Trials to secure victory – and his spot in Doha - last month and repeated the trick at Lee Valley.

The Brixton-based athlete beat Matt Roberts into second and fellow Doha-bound GB athlete with Tom Parsons third but his heroics weren’t enough to stop South London ending fifth overall.

Sheffield backed up their victory on home soil earlier this month to claim the overall title of 2010 McCain City Challenge champions.

At the nationwide city team based competition North London Lions were second with 455.09 points with Birmingham Falcons third with 380.79.

And while admitting he still has a few tweaks to make before he boards the plane to the Middle East Oni was happy with his day’s work at Lee Valley.

“It’s a great event to be a part of and I’m always glad to get out there and compete,” said Oni.

“I jumped pretty well – I didn’t perform as well as I know I can do but that is to be expected because I’m still in very heavy training.

“My consistency has been great over the winter and that is something that I’ve spent a lot of time working on.

“I have a few things I need to iron out but everything is definitely moving in the right direction.

“I feel fit and one or two little technical things need to be sorted out. When that is done I’ll be where I need to be.

“The World indoors is obviously on my mind so that is what I have been training towards.

“My aim out there is to make sure I get to the final and from then on in everything is up for grabs.”

Also topping the podium for the London South Sharks was Mark Berridge in the 800m. The 25-year-old clokced one minute, 52.39 seconds, five hundredths of a second clear of second-placed Tom Marley, with Andrew Staunton third.

“It was a really comfortable win for me but I am delighted,” said Berridge.

“The race went exactly to plan for me – I stayed behind the leaders and then caught them up with five meters to go.

“I really wanted to run a bit faster but I’ve been battling with a cold for the past couple of weeks and that hindered me.

“It was a slower race than I’m used to which worked out well because I had nothing left in the tank.”

Fellow Shark Conrad Williams finished equal third in the 60m behind Ryan Scott and Gabriel Akin of Sheffield, but the London outfit ultimately couldn’t live with their impressive Sheffield rivals who scooped £10,000 for their Lee Valley heroics.