Henry Frayne and Fabrice Lapierre have put themselves in the frame for Olympic long jump selection but will have an anxious wait until Australia’s preliminary athletics team is named this week.

Frayne, however, has the comfort of knowing he’s already earned automatic selection for London with his win in the triple jump on Friday night at the Olympic selection trials.

With world silver medallist Mitchell Watt already selected, Frayne and world indoor champion Lapierre were battling at the trials against Chris Noffke and Robbie Crowther for the remaining two long jumps berths.

Although neither reached the automatic selection mark of 8.20m in the drizzle at Lakeside Stadium on Saturday night, Frayne won with a leap of 8.09m, to go with the qualifier he achieved in Sydney two weeks earlier.

A win with 8.20m on Saturday would have automatically given him a berth, but he’s still well placed to become the first Australian since Ian Tomlinson in 1964 to be selected for the long and triple jumps double at an Olympics.

Lapierre came second with a best of 8.00m, while Crowther was well back with 7.86m and Noffke’s lack of recent competition has ruined his Olympic hopes when he could only manage 7.66m.

While the selectors could still give Crowther and Noffke time to prove themselves before the June 21 deadline, Frayne and Lapierre have the edge.

“I hope so, I guess we’ll soon see in the next week or so when they announce the team,” Frayne said.

“My first goal was to win the long jump because I’m in a strong position, I’m the only one with a qualifier.

“Even if they don’t select me (initially), I’m still in a strong position, having ticked the box of winning the trials.

“The 8.20 would have been been nice, but jumping two days in a row, you’re not going to hit your best in both. An 8.09 is good, it’s my second best ever.”

The experience of backing up in the long jump the day after his qualifying triple jump of 17.23m also gave him confidence he can do the rare double in London.

“It’ll leave me in good stead, to know that I have to back up and back up again, potentially, if I make the final for both,” he said.

“I haven’t done it for a long time, so it’s good to know the body can hold up to it.”

A two day gap between the long jump final and the triple jump qualifying round in London also helps.