Coach John Knowles believes that Padstow teenager Molly Long still has a fighting chance of making her international debut for Great Britain this summer.
Molly's hopes appeared to have been cruelly dashed at the weekend when a sudden attack of asthma forced her to drop out of the final of the under 20 women's 800m at the England Championships in Bedford.
The 16-year-old Truro School student was given oxygen at trackside and medical treatment and while she quickly recovered the fall-out from failing to finish may not be what the doctor ordered to put a smile back on Molly's face.
The Championships incorporated the official trials for the European Junior Championships and the unofficial ones for the World Youth Games for which Molly had a great chance of selection having recently run well inside the qualifying standard of 2:08 with a magnificent personal best of 2mins 06.30secs.
"Molly is feeling pretty down but I think there is still a good chance that she will be selected," said Knowles.
"She is well inside the qualifying time and she is a developing athlete who is improving all the time.
"The World Youth Championships are intended for athletes like that and hopefully the selectors will look at what Molly has done this season and look at the reasons why she had to drop out in Sunday's race.
"She was running okay and was well place when she had the asthma attack. We'll have to wait and see what the selectors decide next week but it is not over yet."
