Mick Jones admitted he was a bitter man after seeing his Olympic dream snatched away from him last year.

But you would never have guessed it from the way the 37-year-old giant casually turned up at his home town arena, fired out the best performance by a British hammer thrower this year, then chatted about his hopes and aims for World Championship year.

Jones was the star performer at the weekend's County Championships, fought out over a sunny weekend at Crawley.

Victory for Britain's No.1 in his event was always a foregone conclusion but he rounded off a routine lunchtime's work with a last-round throw of 73.78m, just eight centimetres short of his own championship record.

Jones, who competes for Belgrave, raised his arms slightly sheepishly in triumph as he collected his medal, then sat down on the podium and outlined his masterplan for making July's World Championships.

Missing out on the trip to Edmonton, Canada, would be a real kick in the teeth after last year's setback, when he reached the qualifying standard for the Sydney Olympics but was told he was too late to make the British team.

He said: "I was a bit bitter about that, especially when I found out that a fencer qualified after I did and went.

"I was sitting at home watching it and I was in the best shape of my life.

"I had done 75.94m and the next furthest thrower was 72.60m so it wasn't as if I was going to be taking anyone's place.

"I just have to grin and bear it. It's only another four years, isn't it?"

Jones's answer to that despair has been to work even harder over the winter to remain ahead of his challengers from these shores.

The heavy training schedule, which includes throwing five days a week, two gruelling sessions in the gym, technical work and swimming, makes it harder to produce big throws at weekends.

But that is all part of the strategy. He said: "This year I have worked differently and I am waiting for the big throws to come out a little bit later.

"Trials for the World Championships are halfway through July. Rather than throwing big in April and May and then petering off I am working towards going further later.

"I have to throw 76.30m to qualify and I've got a personal best of 75.94m so I am only a foot away.

"If I was only hitting 70m now it would be far harder.

"What I want to do is qualify within the next month or so, not have to wait for the trials, then concentrate on training again."

It has been hard going during the winter months for Jones, who works part-time at a warehouse in Capel, near Horsham, and devotes afternoons to training.

Even a trip to compete in the south of France failed to brighten things up.

He said: "We went to Nice and it was cold. We sat about for two days and it was not conducive to good hammer throwing.

"On that performance today I would have come third or fourth and the people in the top eight there were all Olympic finalists."

No such problems at Crawley. The temperature hovered around 25 degrees centigrade and spectators left the shelter of the stand to bask out on the vast grass banks surrounding the arena.

Those who ventured to the far side got the best view of arguably Sussex's leading athlete in action.

Jones has been head and shoulders above his compatriot hammer throwers for years and is ready to meet any domestic challenges this summer.

He said: "One of them reckons he will throw 77m, another reckons he will qualify.

"Hopefully I will get the Europa Cup and things like that so I will be the one getting decent competition.

"I'm unbeaten in three years at home but it's getting closer which is good because it gives me a kick up the backside."

With that the big man, all 19st.4lb of him, slowly headed for home, grabbing a hot dog on the way and keeping an eye on energetic young sons Warren, Lewis and Adam, who had gone with him to the event.

Seven-year-old Adam proved Dad is not the only champion in the family when he won his school sports day but for the time being they are not too interested in hurling hefty pieces of metal.

Dad joked: "They run and have swimming lessons and do everything at the the moment but hopefully we can find a sport they can make some money in."