MORGAN Lake must keep her mental strength if she is to return to major competition in the heptathlon, according to Denise Lewis.

Lake enjoyed a stellar season concentrating on her high jump, with a personal best leap followed by a sixth placed finish at this summer’s World Championships in London.

The 20-year-old old has time on her side and wants to return to seven disciplines in the future, despite excelling in the high jump.

And for Lewis, who claimed Olympic heptathlon gold at Sydney 2000, Lake’s biggest obstacle will be showing mental resilience in order to keep focus across a broader range of events.

“Morgan has had a really fantastic summer,” said Lewis. “She made the decision not to focus on heptathlon and really concentrate on high jumping.

“I would love her to come back, it would be really great to have her, she showed so much promise as a junior.

“But, you see what she’s like when she’s high-jumping. She seems happy, she seems relaxed.

“If she’s really going to do heptathlon she’s going to have to focus on her mental strengths and work on not being beaten by the event.

“It really is a case of when things go well she’s great, but when things don’t always go to plan, she lets it get away from her a bit. If she can nail that she’ll be fine.”

Lewis was speaking at Stoke Park where she was taking part in a tennisathon as part of SportsAid Week along with fellow Olympian, swimmer Mark Foster.

And Lewis, who is also a European and Commonwealth champion, wants Reading-born Lake to channel more positivity as she bids to re-establish herself on the world heptathlon scene.

“You need positive feelings when you’re doing heptathlon. You need to have those good moments to fall back on, especially when things are going difficult,” Lewis added.

“She’s not had lots of those recently. She has had a few occasions where she’s not finished the heptathlon. She has underperformed by her standards and that plays on your mind after a while.

“It would be good to see her come out at the beginning of the year and get a good heptathlon under her belt – it will give her masses of confidence.”

SportsAid Week took place between September 25 and October 1. Please visit www.sportsaid.org.uk/mymiles for more information on the #MyMiles challenge.

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