OLYMPIC heptathlon gold medal favourite Kelly Sotherton defied medical advice to convincingly win the women’s four-event challenge at the Aviva London Grand Prix.

Sotherton hurt her right abductor muscle on the opening day when a farcical situation saw the third barrier in the 100metres hurdles placed in the wrong position.

The 31-year-old Birchfield Harrier survived the minor injury scare and produced world-class form at Crystal Palace and will now travel to the Beijing Olympics full of confidence after an “encouraging weekend.”

The 2004 Olympic bronze medallist produced a huge long jump personal best of 6.79m, but struggled when the hurdles race was re-run at the end of the meeting and feeling cold, finished fourth.

But on Saturday she produced a solid shot effort of 14.36m and despite holding back, then managed second place over 200m with a time of 23.63seconds.

That saw Sotherton easily win with an overall score of 3964 points ahead of Gi-Gi Johnson and Laurien Hoos.

“It was great to win this weekend,” said Sotherton.

‘‘My jump was fantastic, the shot good as well and despite not being able to run as hard as I normally would round the bend in the 200m because of an injury I picked up in the hurdles, I still got close to a season’s best.

“The hurdles were obviously very frustrating. I hurt my abductor muscle jumping that third hurdle and it could have been really serious.

“My doctor and physio both told me not to run but I wanted to run and to get that time when I couldn’t go flat out is obviously encouraging.’’

Usain Bolt, who broke the world 100m record with a time of 9.72 at the end of May, was again in phenomenal form when defending his 200m crown.

The 21-year-old Jamaican roared to a UK All-Comers’ record of 19.76 to beat Tyson Gay’s two-year-old mark of 19.84.