Marlon Devonish completes UK sprint double in Manchester (© Getty Images)
Manchester, UKMarlon Devonish completed a sprint double for the second successive year at the Norwich Union World Trials and UK championships in Manchester this evening when he added the 200m title to the 100m gold he won yesterday (28).
Last year, Devonish became the first man since Linford Christie in 1988 to win both sprints at the national championships, and today he proved it was no fluke as he repeated the feat in a wind whipped Manchester Regional Arena, becoming the first man to do the double in successful years since Macdonald Bailey in 1953.
After running a poor bend, the 31-year-old had to call on all his experience to come from behind in the final 10 metres against his younger opponents. But Devonish held his nerve and his form to cross the line in 20.79, edging out European Junior champion Alex Nelson by just 0.05s.
“That was close, too close,” said the Olympic relay gold medallist. “I got a bit of cramp on the turn because it’s very cold here. I can’t keep giving these young guys leads. They put me under a lot of pressure today.”
With headwinds of anything up to -5m/s it wasn’t a day for fast times, although by the start of the 200m final at 7pm it had slowed to -0.7. After successfully guiding his body through six races in two days, however, Devonish wasn’t concerned about his time.
“Luckily I’ve got the qualifying time already but it’s really hard for these guys to do it in these conditions,” he said, referring to the scramble for World Championships qualifying standards occupying many of the athletes throughout the weekend.
As for the 19-year-old Nelson, he was just pleased to have made it such a close contest. “Up until about 190 metres I thought I had him,” said Nelson after securing his first national medal at senior level. “But I was struggling slightly in the last 10 metres. I had three rounds of the European juniors last week and three more today so it just got me in the legs. I’m pleased with second but I would have loved to have had him on the line.”
Devonish will now decide whether to double up in Osaka, although he admitted the 100m is his top priority.
Kwakye secures the pair too
Jeanette Kwakye made it a double-double in the sprints as she also added the 200m title to the 100m she won on Saturday.
Kwakye’s task was made easier when the defending champion, Joice Maduaka, withdrew with illness. But she still had to work hard into the wind (-2.4) to claim her second gold, holding off Emily Freeman to clock 23.66.
“Coming to Manchester, I just thought about doing my best. And that is what I’ve done,” she said. Whether her best will be good enough to win her a place in Britain’s World Championships squad is open to question, however.
With selection for the team partly down to the discretion of the British selectors this year, Kwakye felt she had sent them a strong message, despite not having run the qualifying time of 23.10.
“I think I’m a hundredth off the ‘A’ standard,” she said. “But I think they should look at my competitiveness throughout my races.”
Simpson secures a competitive 800m from the front
If Devonish and Kwakye were the big winners, the race of the championships was the last one, the women’s 800m, won by Jemma Simpson in 2:00.91. Simpson bravely led what was probably the most competitive field of the weekend through the first lap in 60.59 and entered the home straight still in the lead with Jenny Meadows and Marilyn Okoro breating down her neck.
Okoro made her attack 60 metres from home but, despite the wind in her face, Simpson held on. Okoro was second in 2:01.53 with Meadows third in 2:01.72.
“I knew they were coming after me in the final straight as I had a quick look at the screen,” she said. “I’m not normally in front so I just pretended I was coming from behind as usual.”
Mo and Jo make it look easy
There was no coming from behind for two of Britain’s leading distance runners as Mo Farah and Jo Pavey were easy winners of their respective 5000m races. Running in one black and one white sock – the “Mojo effect” he called it – Farah’s victory in his first 5000m of the season was never under threat as he eased ahead of his opponents in the later stages of the race to clock 13:40.19.
“It was good to get back to racing,” said Farah, who missed the early stages of the season with a calf injury. “I’ve never been to the World Championships. I know I’ve improved a lot but the World Championships is a new level for me.”
If Farah’s victory was easy, Pavey’s was more of a doddle. She went to the front from the start line and gradually established a lead of more than 200 metres which she stretched out to the finish. She crossed the line in 15:17.77 after what was little more than a solo workout.
Idowu injured again
With many big names already missing from the championships with injury, the selectors must have been tearing their hair out when another one, Phillips Idowu, pulled out of the Triple Jump final after just one tentative attempt with a recurrence of the back problem that has kept him out of action since the European Cup in June.
The European Indoor champion, who beat Christian Olsson in the Oslo Golden League, denied he was “in panic mode” as he hurried off to seek physiotherapy.
“I thought it was going well and was ready to put in a good jump today,” he said. “But after my first attempt the whole left side of my back seized up so I decided to go and see the physio straight away. I’m not in panic mode. But I obviosy need more rehab.”
Idowu, who’s one jump measured only 15.84m, still hopes to be fit to challenge Olsson again at the London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace on Friday. Although that appearance, if not his place on the plane to Osaka, must now be in doubt. In the absence of the favourite the event was won by Tosin Oke with a best of 16.59m.
Sotherton and Johnson duel again
Two other athletes with international reputations, Kelly Sotherton and Jade Johnson, renewed their long-standing rivalry in the Long Jump pit. After a disappointing day on Saturday, Sotherton produced her best jump of the year to win her third national title by 2cm, cutting the sand at 6.53m in the first round.
As usual, however, the pair managed to conjure up a bit of controversy. Johnson edged close to Sotherton in the fifth with 6.51m and then had a long effort in the sixth that looked fine to most of those watching in the stadium. But it was ruled a foul, a decision which left Johnson seething. “It looked like being a really good one and they’ve disallowed it for a technicality,” she said. “Officials sometimes don’t realise they can mess with careers.”
Sotherton had sympathy with her rival. “I thought the officials should have at least measured Jade’s jump,” she said, adding that she was happy with her season’s best. “I’ve felt things are going well so to get confirmation in a competition is great,” she said.
Further confirmation in the Shot Put would have been even more welcome. But in her fourth event of the weekend, Sotherton managed only 13.62m, more than 60cm below her best.
Baddeley – looking comfortable
Andrew Baddeley is not yet a man with international honours to his name, but he is certainly heading in the right direction. Two weeks after beating Bernard Lagat over 1500m in Sheffield, he ran away from the rest of the field over the last 200m of the final here to win in a comfortable 3:43.25.
“I decided before the race to kick home hard in the last 200 metres,” said the 25-year-old, who is clearly gaining confidence by the week. “If I’m going to be successful in Osaka then I need to be able to do that, so I thought I’d try it today.”
Steele over Rooney
In the absence of defending champion Tim Benjamin, 22-year-old Andrew Steele emerged to win the men’s 400m ahead of Martyn Rooney. Steele had his funding cut by the national federation last year but responded by winning his first national title here in 45.70, a decent time in the windy conditions.
Tasha Danvers-Smith also negotiated the conditions successfully and duly booked her flight to Osaka by winning the 400m hurdles easily in 55.43 ahead of Lee McConnell.
Former 1500m runner Helen Clitheroe followed up her encouraging performance over 3000m Steeplechase at the British Grand Prix in Sheffield two weeks ago by winning here in 9:47.49, and Johanna Jackson recorded the only stadium record on the track when she won the 5000m Race Walk in 22:03.65, a new personal best by more than half a minute.
There was another stadium record in the women’s Shot Put, won by Eve Massey with 16.63m, while Kate Dennison won the women’s Pole Vault with 4.20m. Martyn Bernard beat Germaine Mason to the men’s High Jump title, clearing 2.24m.
Matthew Brown for the IAAF
