Aviva Grand Prix
Date: 20 February Venue: National Indoor Arena, Birmingham Event website
Coverage: Watch live 1330-1630 GMT on BBC One and the BBC Sport website (UK only)

Turtle's time in the Sheffield trials was nine minutes 2.81 seconds

Gloucester 3,000m runner Gemma Turtle has pulled out of the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham on Saturday.

The 23-year-old was the first Brit home at the trials in Sheffield last week for the World Indoor Championships in Doha and expects to be in the squad.

"I did a lot of races leading up to the trials to sharpen me up and get me race fit," Turtle told BBC Gloucestershire.

"We've decided that we'd do a bit more specific work to 3,000m and get the volume of training back up again."

Turtle finished ahead of Stroud AC's Emily Pidgeon, who could also be selected for the trip to Doha as UK Athletics have the option of picking two athletes for the race.

I just think that I'd be so focussed on what I had to do that I wouldn't feel that I needed the support Gemma Turtle

It would mean two Gloucestershire athletes in GB vests in the same event, but Turtle insists she would not worry if she were the only British runner in her discipline.

"When you're on that start line you're completely focussed on what you've got to do," she said.

"Whether it's a Brit that's around you or whether it's another person from a foreign country I don't think it really matters.

"It's a pretty individual sport and I just think that I'd be so focussed on what I had to do that I wouldn't feel that I needed the support."

The team for Doha is expected to be picked next week.

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