BLACKBURN Harriers Sophie Hitchon and Holly Bradshaw have booked their places in this summer's Olympic Games after claiming national titles.

Burnley's Hitchon took a commanding hammer victory with a throw of 69.99 while Bradshaw won the pole vault with a season's best of 4.60m at the British Championships in Birmingham.

It will be the second Olympics for both East Lancashire stars after they competed in London four years ago.

And both believe there is more to come ahead of the Games with the European Championships the next target in Amsterdam next month.

Hitchon, the British record holder, said: "It’s always a proud moment to become a British champion.

"There were a few technical issues which I’m not happy about but it was about getting the win.

"I’ll look forward to the European Championships in a couple of weeks then we will be focusing on Rio. "There are a lot of small steps to make over the next few weeks to make those improvements ahead of the Olympic Games."

Similarly Bradshaw, who came close to clearing 4.72, also feels she will improve before Rio.

"Since the Birmingham Diamond League I’ve competed in a couple of competitions and they’ve gradually got better and better but that (the British Championships) was better again so I’m hoping every time I compete I can keep building and finding my jumps so when it comes to Rio I’ll be there.

"I’ve secured my place on the team now so I don’t have to worry about that, I can focus on my jumping and training.

"I showed in Beijing last year that I can deliver when it matters so I’m relying on that again. Every competition from now to Rio is a training session, I just need to work on a few things and look forward to it really.”

Elsewhere, Great Britain's sprinters declared themselves ready to take on the world after James Dasaolu, James Ellington and Chijindu Ujah all dipped under 10 seconds in the 100 metres.

Dasaolu took victory at the Alexander Stadium in 9.93 seconds, his first national outdoor title, with Ellington also guaranteeing qualification for the Rio Olympics by coming home second in 9.96secs.

Ujah missed out on the top-two spot required for automatic selection for the Games, but third place in 9.97s will almost certainly be enough to earn him the final discretionary spot on the team.

If the men's 100m threw up plenty of positives, the women's event produced a possible dilemma for the selectors as favourite Desiree Henry could only finish third.

Asha Philip took victory in 11.17, with 19-year-old Daryll Neita also sealing Olympic qualification with 11.24.

Michigan-born sisters Tiffany Porter and Cindy Ofili booked their Rio spots with a one-two finish in the 100m hurdles.