Sarah Holt’s senior British debut may have been soured by a virus but the Cleckheaton hammer thrower insists a personal best at this weekend’s UK Championships will be the perfect remedy.

The 23-year-old earned her first senior GB call-up for last week’s European Team Championships in Bergen, only for illness to render her bedridden less than a week ahead of the event.

While Holt was eventually given the all-clear to travel to Norway, a below-par effort of 55.66 metres – nearly 10m down on her best – failed to make an impact on a world-class field featuring the likes of Germany’s world silver medalist Betty Heidler.

But with qualification for this summer’s European Championships in Barcelona at stake in Birmingham this weekend, Holt has vowed to bounce back by clinching the qualification standard of 67.50m in the midlands.

“The European Teams hasn’t really changed anything and I definitely feel like I can make that qualifying distance in Birmingham,” said Holt, who struck bronze in Birmingham 12 months ago.

“Every competition is a good chance to lay down a marker in terms of distance and I don’t think 65 metres is the best I can do.

“I wasn’t 100 per cent out in Norway and it was touch and go as to whether I would go, to be honest.

“At the beginning of the week before I was in bed all day, so it was difficult situation because I still really wanted to go.”

While her preparation for Bergen was far from ideal, Holt admits a lack of experience played its part last weekend as she registered just one legal throw from her three attempts.

But Holt is adamant she will reap the rewards of her Norwegian adventure next time she appears on the international stage.

“It was the biggest competition I’ve done and I think it will help me now with dealing with things like the TV cameras,” said Holt, who struck bronze at last summer’s European Under-23 Championships in Lithuania.

“Now I know what to expect from competitions like that. I haven’t competed against a field as strong as that before, so it’s just a case of getting comfortable with being in that position.

“At my first world juniors, I was really low-ranked in the field but then last year I’d built it up quite a bit and obviously did a lot better.

“I know quite a lot of the British team already from training in Loughborough and that definitely helped being around them.”

The UKA Heroes project, sponsored by Original Source, is a successful initiative which offers financial support to talented young athletes who are working towards the 2012 and 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.