Nothing is simple when it comes to deciding which women hurdlers at Canadian Olympic track trials will go to London Games

CALGARY - The country's best female heptathlon athlete could hold the key that opens the door for one of the hurdlers to enter the London Olympics.

Jessica Zelinka, who broke her own national record to win the heptathlon Thursday night at the Canadian Track and Field Trials, also has recorded the second fastest time in the country in the 100-metre hurdles. Her 12.76 seconds trails only the 12.64 run by Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, who won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Zelinka is one of six women that have reached the hurdles qualifying standard for the London Olympics. A top-three finish in Saturday's final allows her to race the event in London.

[Eh Game: Zelinka finds balance between family and sport]

But if Zelinka decides she wants to concentrate only on heptathlon the fourth-place finisher can take her spot. That could be good news for Angela Whyte, Nikkita Holder or even Perdita Felicien, the 2007 world champion silver medallist who is battling for one last Olympic hurrah.

The hurdles final, which is Saturday's last event, is one of the most anticipated races at the Olympic trials in years.

Lopes-Schliep, 29, is racing just a little over nine months after giving birth to a child. Felicien, 31, a medal favourite who fell at the 2004 Games then missed the 2008 Olympics with an injury, comes to the trials with the slowest time of any of the women and possibly at the end of her career. Phylicia George, 24, and Holder, 25, are young guns looking for a shot at their first Games.

And now Zelinka, a 30-year-old mother who has a chance for a medal in heptathlon, becomes the wild card. She isn't sure what she'll do if she finishes in the top three.

"I have to see how my legs respond,'' Zelinka said Thursday night. "If I run 13:30 (seconds) and come third, I can't see that being a good choice, going to London, running 13:30 in the first round and not getting any further.''

Zelinka's coach Les Gramantik believes his runner will be a factor in the hurdles.

"If she doesn't make a mistake at the beginning of her race it will be hard to kick her out of the top three,'' Gramantik, who also coaches Felicien, said Friday.

Then things could get interesting.

[Photos: Canadian Track & Field Olympic trials in Calgary]

"We'll decide after the race,'' Gramantik said. "It will depend on the time, the result and how she feels.''

The decision will be made quickly since Athletics Canada plans to announce the London track team Sunday.

"That would not be fair to anybody to hang out and wait,'' Gramantik said.

Zelinka's focus is the heptathlon. Her score of 6599 points at the Olympic trials is the third best in the world this year. The hurdles qualifying in London begins two days after the gruelling, seven-event heptathlon ends.

"Even if she runs beyond belief it would be very difficult for her to be on the podium in hurdles,'' said Gramantik. "It's not easy for her to be on the podium in heptathlon, but she has a chance.''

Alex Gardiner, the Canadian track and field team head coach, said if Zelinka places in the top three but decides against racing the hurdles in London, the spot would go to the next finisher who has reached the Olympic standard.

The 32-year-old Whyte has the fourth best qualifying time.

Athletes that have meet the London standard, but don't finish in the top three at the Olympic trials, still have one small bit of wiggle room left.

There is an appeal process which allows an athlete to argue their case for going to the Games.

"We have to look at a couple of things,'' said Gardiner. "The qualify of the competition here, their performance here. We also need to see their plan.

"We just don't automatically say you were the fourth, you had the criteria, so you are on the team. We have to go through it step by step.''

Coming into the Olympic trials the rules were simple. If an athlete had made the standard, then finished in the top three, they are going to London.

Things might not be that simple for the women hurdlers.

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