JESSICA Judd admits she finally now sees herself as an 800m runner after taking a superb victory at the Olympic Stadium.

The talented 17-year-old set a lifetime best of 2m 2.50s in winning the elite women’s race held as part of the British Universities Championships (BUCs) – the official test event for this summer’s Games.

It means she now has the qualifying times for this year’s World Junior Championships, in Barcelona, and the senior European Championships in Helsinki in June.

And it has also led the Canvey teenager to start believing she is an 800m runner – something she could not have imagined a year ago.

“I love it now,” laughed Judd, who attends King John School sixth-form. “I never used to like it because of the physical side of it, all the pushing and elbowing.

“But I did some of that myself at the weekend and do feel like I’m an 800m runner now. I see it as my main distance.”

The race was Judd’s first 800m of the season, so to open up with a personal best shows, hopefully, there is plenty more to come.

And her even splits of two 61s laps have given her encouragement she can go faster.

“I can’t believe I ran a PB with even splits,” said Judd. “If I can knock a few seconds off the first lap I feel like I could run quite close to two minutes. That’s a bit of a dream but it doesn’t feel like it’s too far away.”

Judd, who has been so used to running out alone way ahead of her nearest competitors, also admits to quickly developing a bit of race craft that helped her on Sunday.

“I was in a good position at the start but could feel people try to come round me,” she said. “I knew I had to keep the first lane and that’s what I did.

“I think if I had lost that it wouldn’t have been as fast.

“When I saw the first lap time I thought a PB had gone out of the window so I just wanted to win.

“The home straight seemed to go on forever and it wasn’t until I heard the stadium announcer say what a brilliant run it was that I realised I had got a PB.

“I really wasn’t expecting it. I didn’t quite know what shape I was in beforehand and that made me really nervous.

“But my coach Jeremy (Freeman) convinced me I was going to run well and that gave me a lot of confidence.

“It’s good to have the qualifying time for the World Juniors early. I’d love to do that and it means I don’t have to go chasing times now and I can pick and choose my races a bit more.”