Swedish agony drives bernard

Four years ago the 25-year-old high jumper flew home early from the Gothenburg European Championships when a leap of 2.23m was not enough to make it out of the qualifying rounds.

Since then Bernard has become a relative mainstay of the British team, making the finals at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka before finishing ninth at the Beijing Olympics a year later.

And the Wakefield Harrier has vowed to banish his Swedish troubles once and for all by climbing the podium in Spain next week.

"I can't wait to get on with the competition now," said Bernard, who after being selected for Spain has been fine-tuning his preparations at a preparation camp in Monte Gordo, Portugal.

"Training is going really well and it is a great environment to work in so I am feeling great and hopefully I can go and get myself a medal.

"I didn't have the best time at the European Championships four years ago. It's never easy or a nice feeling when you go out early and I had university stuff and exams to worry about then, so I just left.

"But I am definitely hoping to be there for the full time this time and also to try and get myself a medal because I feel like I am capable.

"There might be a bit more expectation on me because I have a fair bit of experience now but I don't really worry about that. I am in it for me, really. I just want to go there and jump well, get to the final and see what happens."

Russian Ivan Ukhov made himself the favourite to take the crown with a leap of 2.34m at a meeting in Monaco on July 22.

But with just six centimetres separating the top 17 in this year's European rankings Bernard is adamant the competition is wide open.

"Nobody has jumped a long way higher than anyone else this season at all and so it is going to be very open," added Bernard.

"Both myself and Tom Parsons (GB team-mate) have jumped well this year and I think we both have a good chance of getting a medal.

"The first job is to get into the final and then anything can happen."