Nicola Sanders speeds to 50.72 clocking in Sheffield (© Getty Images)
Sheffield, EnglandNicola Sanders, whose biggest previous claim to fame was a semi-final place in the 400m Hurdles at the World Championships in Helsinki last year, proved the surprise package of the second and final day of Great Britain's Norwich Union World Indoor Championship trials in Sheffield yesterday (12).
50.72 - fourth quickest indoor athlete in 2006
On a day on which Olympic Heptathlon bronze medallist Kelly Sotherton equalled her high jump best with 1.81 metres, and thus reckoned herself to be a title-contender for the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne next month, it was the 23-year-old Sanders who made the most significant advance.
Running unchallenged, she twice smashed the AAA Indoor Championship record at 400 metres, in semi-final and final, finishing with 50.72 seconds. Not only was this faster, by well over a second, than she has ever run outdoors, but it took her from nowhere to second on the British indoor all-time list behind Katharine Merry, the Sydney Olympic bronze medallist. Had there been electronic timing at 300 metres, Sanders would have broken the British best of 37.12 at that distance as she finished with a 400m time which makes her the fourth woman on the current world indoor list for 2006. It also leapfrogged her past former Olympic and world hurdles champion Sally Gunnell, whom she said as a teenager she one day hoped to emulate.
Due to the British climate: "cold, snow and wind," as the 23-year-old Sanders described it, she has been unable to do much hurdles work this winter. "This shows I have got the feet for the job. I've done some technique work, but I'm waiting to get some heat on my back in Australia before I do any real hurdling. I don't quite believe this. I really hoped it would all come together for the European championships this summer.”
"The best one-lap hurdlers have a differential of about 2.5 seconds, so I don't think that looking for three seconds is unrealistic. That works out at under 54 seconds, and that's scary, because my best before is 55.6, and that ranked me ninth in the Commonwealth last year. I just can't get my head around it. My world has gone a bit weird."
A threat to Pitmann?
Sanders was a member of the GB 4 x 400m quartet which took World Championship bronze in Helsinki, but was convinced her individual future lay over the barriers. Now, however, she is less sure. This has excited her so much that she feels she should pay more attention to the flat 400m. With the UK media already billing her as a threat to Australian hurdles hope Jana Pittman, the 2003 World champion, she cautioned against hype. "Jana's first run this year was 54.8. That's not a shabby time, so don't write her off . . . but it would be nice to beat her on her home turf in Melbourne."
Tobin clocks 45.90
Further emphasising resurgence in British 400m running, Robert Tobin won the men's event in 45.90, a personal best and the second fastest time in the world this year so far.
Long Jump PB for Sotherton
Sotherton professed some disappointment, despite having long jumped a lifetime best, a championship record of 6.53 metres, for victory. "It's not bad first time out," she said. "It shows my preparations are going well, but I won't be going to Australia with a complacent head. I haven't prepared 100% for Melbourne. My main focus is the European championships in Budapest. In heptathlon terms, the majority of the world's best will be in Europe."
Sotherton joked that she would very much like to win in Australia, if only because it would mean she could be announced in Gothenburg as: "champion of something", Carolina Kluft, having monopolised every other Heptathlon title available.
Sprint double for Christie’s pupil
Tim Abeyie, who is trained by the former Olympic and World 100 metres champion Linford Christie, completed a 60m and 200m double once achieved by his mentor. "Working with Linford and the group has definitely improved me as a sprinter," he said. "You just pick up loads of different stuff from these guys."
He had won the 60m on Saturday with a personal best of 6.64, and then took the 200m with 20.96. The first of these guarantees his place in Britain's World Championship team for Moscow (the 200m is no longer on the programme) yet last summer the 23-year-old Abeyie could not even reach the 100m final at the AAA outdoor championships.
Jenny Meadows and Karen Harewood, separated by just one hundredth of a second in the 800m as Meadows was given the photo-finish verdict with 2:02.41, both qualified for Moscow. So did Joanna Ross who broke the 19-year-old Scottish record in third, with 2:03.27. Another Scot, Hayley Ovens, took the 1500m title for the third time in six years. Her time of 4:15.50, ahead of Katrina Wooton, was inside the Moscow guideline, but Ovens has opted for the Commonwealth event.
Sarah Claxton's personal best of 8.01 for second behind Ireland's Devl O'Rourke (7.98) in the 60m hurdles, was again well inside the Moscow standard, and took her to UK third all-time. There was also a personal best for another Irish athlete, Ciara Sheehy, as she won the 200m with 23.20.
Doug Gillon - The Herald - for the IAAF
