JADE SLAVIN’S maiden appearance at the World Taekwondo Championships ended at the second-round stage, but the Consett fighter is hoping her performances will have strengthened her chances of competing at next year’s Olympics.

Slavin, who is from Consett and a member of Chi Taekwondo in Spennymoor, made a perfect start to her World Championship debut, outclassing Pakistan’s Najia Rasool as she claimed a 16-0 win in the first round.

However, the luck of the draw deserted as she was paired with 2008 Olympic champion and 2012 bronze medallist Maria Espinoza at the second-round stage.

Espinoza quickly established a 3-0 lead, and while 22-year-old Slavin gave a decent account of herself as she picked up two points of her own, the former model eventually slipped to a 5-2 defeat.

“I might not have got the gold medal, but it has still been a great experience for me,” said Slavin. “And I gained 12 ranking points, so every little helps.”

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RICHARD KILTY continued his strong start to the outdoor season as he broke his personal best and posted the best time recorded by a European this season to win the Gavardo International meet in Italy.

The Stockton sprinter, who is the World and European Indoor 60m champion, won in a time of 10.09sec, an improvement of 0.01sec on his previous lifetime best, which had stood for two years.

The Gateshead Harrier finished 0.24sec clear of Italian Filippo Tortu, with former Olympic relay gold medallist Mark Lewis-Francis coming in fifth.

Chris Tomlinson finished eighth in the long jump at last weekend’s Diamond League event in Shanghai, one place behind British team-mate and Olympic champion Greg Rutherford.

Tomlinson, who is from Middlesbrough, produced a best effort of 7.80m as he made his seasonal Diamond League debut.

Rutherford finished 25cm ahead of him with a leap of 8.05m, with Russian Aleksandr Menkov triumphing with a best effort of 8.27m.

Another Teessider, Commonwealth race walking champion Jo Atkinson, found the going tough as the temperature soared during the European Cup event in Murcia.

Atkinson, who is from New Marske, finished 37th in a time of 1:44.28 and said: “It was tough out there – I just did not have anything in the tank today.”