19 year old Rutherford leaps to 8.26m at the British Championships (© Getty Images)
Marlon Devonish was the surprise winner of the 100m final on the first day of the Norwich Union European Trials, the British national championships, on a blistering hot day at Manchester Regional City.
Devonish, better known as a half lap man he was World indoor 200m champion in 2003 took his first national title in 10.19 ahead of US-based Tyrone Edgar and former World Junior champion Mark Lewis-Francis in an event hit by injury blows to some of UK sprinting’s bigger names.
“They said I was just a 200m man but I think I’ve put those rumours to bed now,” said Devonish, a member of the 2004 Olympic gold medal winning 4x100m relay squad. “I’ve come up against the best in the country today and won it.”
Injuries for Chambers and Malcolm
The event was expected to crown the return of Dwain Chambers to the top of British sprinting. But the 28-year-old was forced to withdraw from the final after sustaining a quadriceps injury while finishing second in the semi-final in 10.25. Chambers ran 10.07, the fastest time by a Briton for three years ,when he finished behind Asafa Powell’s World record equalling run in Gateshead on 11 June, and was a strong favourite to take back his British title.
“I was really happy with my form today and thought I was running well,” said Chambers. “But I’m not prepared to take any risks that might jeopardise the rest of the season.”
With only the first two here selected automatically for the European Championships in Gothenburg next month the rest of Chambers’ season might be in jeopardy anyway. He is the second fastest man in Europe so far, behind Portugal’s Francis Obikwelu, and would have been a contender to take back
the European title that was stripped from him recently by the EAA because of his drugs violation.
But Chambers may not get selected if Devonish decides to run the 100m. Devonish claimed after his victory that he would concentrate on the 200m provided he finishes in the top two in tomorrow’s race, of course and that would mean Chambers could join Edgar and Lewis-Francis in the British squad.
Chambers wasn’t the only big name British sprinter to miss out through injury. Former World indoor champion Jason Gardener pulled out after the heats suffering from the same sciatic nerve problems that kept him out of the Commonwealth Games earlier this year. And Christian Malcolm hobbled off the track at the end of the final holding his hamstring. If it’s a serious injury that will be a big blow for the Welshman who has shown good form over
200m this season and leads the European rankings with 20.15.
This event also saw the demise of another of British sprinting’s old guard. Darren Campbell, the 2003 World 100m bronze and 2000 Olympic 200m silver medallist, was eliminated from the semi-finals after finishing fourth in 10.33, his major championship days seemingly at an end.
Rutherford’s 8.26m leap just shy of British record
If Campbell’s career is coming to a close, Greg Rutherford’s is just beginning. The 19-year-old European Junior champion astonished even himself this afternoon by not only winning the men’s Long Jump, but leaping to within one centimetre of Chris Tomlinson’s British record in the final round.
“I’m definitely in with a shout now for the Europeans and I’m only 19!” said the emotional Rutherford, whose 8.26m puts him among Europe’s top five. “This win has really got me up there among the best in the world. It’s just a shame it was one centimetre short of the British record.”
Tomlinson was 39cm behind in second place with 2002 Commonwealth champion Nathan Morgan in third.
Hansen to defend European title?
Rutherford wasn’t the only emotional jumper on a day which saw temperatures touching the 30s. It was a tearful Ashia Hansen who returned to the Triple Jump runway for the first time after two years’ absence following a career threatening patella tendon injury. The 34-year-old former World Indoor champion’s nine-year-old British record stands at 15.15m but today she was just happy to complete a competition after enduring four operations and being told by a surgeon that she would never jump again.
“It was really nerve wracking,” said Hansen, 2002 European and Commonwealth champion. “I was just dusting down the cobwebs really, but it’s nice to get this one out of the way.”
Hansen, who was under the knife as recently as January and only started jumping again two months ago, improved throughout the rounds to finish with a best of 13.65m. The competition was won by her training partner, Tiombe Hurd from USA, who leapt 14.15m.
“It’s been tough, there have been so many complications,” said Hansen. “I would start to think it was OK, then something else would go wrong. I started to think ‘When is this going to stop?’ So to come here and walk away with everything intact, I’m really happy.”
Hansen’s distance equalled the European Athletics Association’s qualifying standard for August’s European Championships but she will not take a place on the British team unless she reaches UK Athletics’ standard for elite athletes of 14.10m.
“I’m not a development athlete,” she said. “I’ve been to championships, I know what it’s about. Now I’ve got to prove my fitness. I love what I do and I haven’t yet achieved everything I set out to. I wanted to prove to people that I can come back.”
Benjamin and Sotherton are fit
Returning from injury was one of the themes of the day as Tim Benjamin, the seventh fastest 400m runner in the world last year, ran his best race of the season to qualify fastest for tomorrow’s final. The 24-year-old, who has been suffering with injury since missing the Commonwealth Games in March, edged out Robert Tobin in 45.92.
There were encouraging performances from Kelly Sotherton too. The Olympic Heptathlon bronze medallist has been hampered by a back injury that flared up during her victory at the in Melbourne. But she managed to High Jump 1.82m here and run two rounds of the 100m hurdles, clocking 13.33 in the heats and 13.38 to finish fifth in the final.
Fellow Heptathlete Jessica Ennis, the Commonwealth bronze medallist, also high jumped 1.82m and snatched fourth in the hurdles in 13.33, a personal best.
The Hurdles title was won for the third time by Sarah Claxton in 13.19, while Ireland’s Deidre Ryan took the High Jump with 1.92m. Joice Maduaka continued her improving form to win the women’s 100m in 11.23.
The men’s Hurdles was won by Commonwealth medallist Andy Turner in a wind assisted 13.24 hardly in Liu Xiang’s league, but the third quickest ever by a Briton and the third fastest by a European this year. “My coach said he had a dream I would do 13.26 and I didn’t believe him, so you could say it’s
a dream come true,” said the delighted Turner afterwards.
Carl Myerscough made it a double double by retaining both his Shot Put and Discus Throw titles. Last year he became the first man in the history of these championships to win both and repeated the feat today with a 20.00m put and 61.04m effort in the discus.
“I’ve got two gold medals to go home with,” he said. “Not a bad day’s work.”
Marlon Devonish could say the same.
Matthew Brown for the IAAF
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