Jo Fenn (GBR) runs solo 1:59.74 in Birmingham (© Getty Images)
With most of Britain’s big name stars opting not to compete this weekend, the UK’s World Indoor Trials was never going to be the pre-World Championships parade of medal hopefuls it was once hyped up to be. The absence of athletes such as Colin Jackson, Jonathan Edwards, Ashia Hansen, Kelly Holmes, Daniel Caines, Marlon Devonish and Jason Gardener left the event at Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena feeling somewhat flat, at first anyway. The calm before the World Indoors storm, perhaps?
Indeed, Gardener’s late withdrawal robbed the championships of it’s top attraction – the anticipated three-way battle for the two men’s 60m places in the UK team between the 'Bath Bullet' himself, local boy Mark Lewis-Francis and European outdoor champion Dwain Chambers. Gardener eclipsed them both at the Norwich Union Grand Prix, held at the same venue only eight days earlier, and clearly feels his superior indoor form was enough to guarantee his selection. He is almost certainly right.
With only the winner here guaranteed a World Championships place, Gardener’s absence effectively left the men’s 60m as a head-to-head between Britain’s increasingly bitter sprint rivals – Lewis-Francis and Chambers. At the Grand Prix, Chambers had flopped out in the heats, leaving Lewis-Francis to finish third behind Gardener in the final. There was no such disaster for Chambers here, but despite running his season’s best, we’re still unlikely to see him at the World Indoors as Lewis-Francis pipped him at the tape to take the British title, and a much treasured spot on the starting line in front of his home supporters in two weeks time.
Chambers actually got the better start and was marginally ahead after 40 metres. But he dipped too early, allowing Lewis-Francis to sneak through by a mere one hundredth of a second, in 6.58. Chambers’ 6.59 was only four hundredths outside his quickest ever, but that seemed little compensation to the big man. In what is becoming an all too familiar reaction to defeat, Chambers stormed from the arena, barely stopping to pick up his kit and refusing to comment on his likely absence from a world event he was once predicting to win.
For his part, Lewis-Francis was delighted. “It was great fun to run in front of my home crowd and I can’t wait for two weeks time,” he said. “Jason deserves his place since he’s been running well all season, but I knew that the second spot was mine from day one.”
The absence of top named athletes caused controversy in other events too, most notably in the men’s 400m. When former World Indoor champion Jamie Baulch was disqualified from his heat on Saturday for running outside his lane, that left the final on Sunday wide open. It was won by Daniel Batman in an Australian record of 45.93. Baulch had hoped to do battle with Caines here and was upset by his rival’s decision to miss the trials. As the faster man, Caines’ place in the UK team is virtually assured, but Baulch’s disqualification could have put his selection in jeopardy if another British athlete had beaten the World Championships qualifying time of 46.90.
“There are lots of athletes not competing this weekend – we all know who they are – and I think it makes a bit of a mockery of our sport,” said Baulch on Saturday evening. “It’s happening in lots of events and it’s annoying. I think it should be compulsory to compete in these championships because they could end up taking the wrong team.”
But by Sunday evening Baulch was breathing easily again for the first Briton home in the final recorded only 47.20 (Mark Hylton in third place) so the Welshman’s place in the team seems safe.
Another Welshman may well have lost his spot, however. With Britain’s fastest man Marlon Devonish not competing, Christian Malcolm needed to win the 200m and looked in good shape to do that when he clocked a season’s best 20.74 in the semi-finals. But Malcolm sustained muscle cramp doing it and pulled out of the final. Julian Golding had earlier pulled out of the semis, after straining his right hamstring, leaving Allyn Condon to win the final in his best for the year of 20.69.
The highlight of the women’s events was the 800m where Jo Fenn front ran to a championships record of 1:59.74 – second only to Kelly Holmes’ recent British record (1:59.21), set in Ghent in February. Fenn’s is also the third fastest time in the world this year and means Britain will have two women in the hunt for medals at the World Indoor Championships.
“I wanted to run like that because that’s what it’s going to be like at the World Indoors,” she said of her blistering 58 second first two laps. “I really needed to run hard to go through the pain. It was quite hard but I am really pleased with my last lap, I felt strong. I think I could definitely run sub-2 consistently now.”
Other championships records came in the men’s Triple Jump, which Tosin Oke won with 16.61m (which just goes to show how rarely Edwards has competed at this fixture); and in the women’s 60m Hurdles, won in 8.12 by Sarah Claxton. Derval O’Rourke was second in the Hurdles with the same time, beating her own Irish record. Another Irish record went to Ciara Sheehy who won the women’s 200m in 23.17, with 17 year-old Amy Spencer in second, securing her World Championships berth with a UK junior record of 23.20. Susan Burnside set a Scottish record in the women’s 60m, running 7.35 for second place behind Joice Maduaka’s 7.32.
Among the sprinkling of overseas athletes warming up for the World Indoors was Australia’s Viktor Chistyakov who won the men’s Pole Vault with a season’s best 5.60m. His wife was somewhat less successful in the women’s event. Tatiana Grigorieva entered the competition at 4.10m, which would have been sufficient to win, but the Olympic silver medallist failed on all three attempts. “It was a little disappointing but I am just recovering from an Achilles injury and this is my first competition this season,” she said, adding that she would not be at the World Indoors unless she’s in shape “to battle for the medals”.
The women’s High Jump was won by Susan Jones, whose 1.93m puts her fourth on the UK all time list indoors. Long jumper Chris Tomlinson also takes up that position, his winning effort of 7.97m equalling a leap by Lynn Davies in 1966.
Matthew Brown for the IAAF
Full Results - www.ukathletics.net/
Norwich Union Great Britain and Northern Ireland Team for World Indoor Championships -
MEN
60m - Jason GARDENER; Mark LEWIS-FRANCIS
200m - Allyn CONDON; Marlon DEVONISH
400m - Jamie BAULCH; Daniel CAINES
800m - James McILROY; Chris MOSS
1500m - Michael EAST; James THIE
3000m - Tom MAYO; John MAYOCK
60m Hurdles - Colin JACKSON
High Jump - Dalton GRANT
Pole Vault - Nick BUCKFIELD
Long Jump - Chris TOMLINSON
Triple Jump - Jonathan EDWARDS
4x400m - Jamie BAULCH, Daniel CAINES, Adam CHARLTON, Jared DEACON, Matt ELIAS, Cori HENRY, Mark HYLTON
WOMEN
60m - Susan BURNSIDE; Joice MADUAKA
200m - Amy SPENCER
400m - Jenny MEADOWS; Catherine MURPHY
800m - Jo FENN
1500m - Kelly HOLMES; Hayley OVENS
3000m - Hayley TULLETT
60m Hurdles - Sarah CLAXTON; Rachel KING
High Jump - Susan JONES
Triple Jump - Ashia HANSEN
4x400m - Karen GEAR, Danielle HALSALL, Vernicha JAMES, Jenny MEADOWS, Catherine MURPHY, Kelly SOTHERTON, Amy SPENCER.
Disability Demonstration Events
800m - Andy BIRD; Danny CRATES
60m CP - Hazel ROBSON
