FRED WOODCOCK

Canterbury heptathlete Rebecca Wardell remains confident she will qualify for the Olympic Games despite the bar being raised by training partner Sarah Cowley.

Cowley achieved the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) qualifying target of 6050 points with a personal best 6135-points performance in Gotzis, Austria, last weekend.

The 28-year-old's feat means Wardell, 34, must now achieve the Olympic A standard mark of 6150 points over the seven track and field events at two upcoming meetings in Europe.

"It does mean that I will have to do an A standard to be assured of a place on the team. If I now do a score between standard (6050) and the A (6150) then the selectors will have to choose just one of us," Wardell said from the training base in Switzerland she shares with Cowley, Olympic and world shot put champion Valerie Adams and Kiwi decathlete Scott McLaren.

Wardell has not competed in a heptathlon since surgery to repair a stress fracture after injuring her left leg at the Delhi Commonwealth Games in 2010.

But the 33-year-old is upbeat about her chances of making the cut for London.

"I always had 6150 as my target taped to my wall as I knew Sarah was in good shape in the New Zealand summer so it would have been crazy for me to set my sights purely on achieving 6050. Sarah's score in Gotzis doesn't change my focus as I do think I can achieve the A standard in Ratingen [Germany] on June 14 and 15 or at French champs on July 7-8."

Wardell said 6150 was only 42 points more than her personal best (6108) set in Ratingen four years ago.

"I am a better athlete now than I was back then," she said. "The key, as always for me, will be to stay in one piece!"

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Heptathlete Rebecca Wardell sure of qualification