Phillips Idowu of Belgrave Harriers in the Triple Jump in Manchester (© Getty Images)
Two double sprint champions were crowned on the second day of searing heat at the Norwich Union European Trials in Manchester’s Regional Arena this afternoon, but the performances of the day were Phillips Idowu’s 17.50m leap in the first round of the Triple Jump and a breakthrough to world class 400m running by Nicola Sanders.
Idowu’s jump was not only a season’s best for the Commonwealth champion but a championships record, the sixth best in the world this year, and the second furthest in Europe behind Christian Olsson¹s 17.62m.
“I have been looking to do a big jump and then see what happens,” said Idowu. “I expected 17.20m today so 17.50m is a great bonus for me.”
Idowu has been suffering from injury problems and after fouls in round two and three he left the competition certain that he’d done enough. After finishing sixth in the 2000 Olympics and fifth in the Europeans four years ago, he now has his sights set on a medal in Gothenburg.
“I have been trying to get fit by going into competitions and it has left me very tired,” he said. “I must say that it isn’t an injury problem, I’m just very tired.” Nathan Douglas was second with 16.99m, securing the second automatic spot in Britain’s European Championships team.
Sanders 50.74
Nicola Sanders moved to within touching distance of the world’s best one-lap runners when she won the women’s 400m with a wide margin in 50.74, moving her into the world top-20 for 2006, and making her the fifth fastest European of the year.
A former hurdler, her winning time was more than seven tenths faster than her previous personal best, although she announced her potential when she ran 50.72 to win the indoor version of these championships in Sheffield this winter.
“I knew all season that I would run fast this year but it has taken me until today to prove it,” she said. “I hope to run quicker at the European championships, I know I have it in me.”
After showing such good flat form indoors, Sanders was tipped to challenge Jana Pitman over 400m Hurdles at the Commonwealth Games in March, but finished an agonising fourth.
“There was a lot of pressure on me after running so well indoors, especially at the Commonwealth Games,” she said. “It has taken me a while to get my speed sorted after switching from the hurdles since then.”
The men’s 400m was won by Tim Benjamin in 46.00, just holding off British junior record holder Martyn Rooney. Benjamin was fifth in last year’s World Championships but has been suffering from back injuries for much of this season and is struggling to repeat last year’s world class times.
“It’s a big relief to win,” said Benjamin. “I’m sure people are sick of hearing about my injuries.”
Historic double for Devonish
Marlon Devonish became the first man to win 100m/200m double at these championships since Linford Christie in 1988 when he got the judges verdict in a photo finish with Rikki Fifton. Both crossed the line in 20.69 (a pb for 21-year-old Fifton) but Devonish claimed his second gold of the weekend.
“I didn’t win as I would have liked but it’s nice to see the young guys coming through,” he said. “I’m pleased with the double but the future is here.”
Winning the 200m was always the top target for Devonish. And his task was made easier when home-town boy Darren Campbell who failed to make the semi-finals of yesterday’s 100m and pre-Championships favourite Christian Malcolm, who pulled a hamstring in the final of the shorter sprint, did not start this afternoon’s heats.
Malcolm is the fastest Briton this year and it would have been a good battle between the two. Devonish finished second to Malcolm last year, and had targetted the 200m for Gothenburg. But after his double victory this weekend is unsure whether to double-up at the Europeans.
“I’ll speak to my coach but I might not have the option,” he said. “We’ll just have to see.” The selectors announce their decision on Tuesday, but Dwain Chambers place in the 100m may rest on Devonish’s decision.
And Maduaka takes two too
Joice Maduaka made it a double-double in the sprints as she matched Devonish by adding the 200m title to the 100m she won yesterday. The 32-year-old won her second gold of the weekend when she took the longer sprint in 23.24. It was a season’s best to go with the PB she produced in the 100m yesterday but still short of the 23.00 standard for elite athletes set by UK Athletics.
“I really wanted the qualifying time today but it might have been a big ask with all the races I have done this weekend,” she said.
Commonwealth 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu opted for the half-lap today and finished fifth in 24.10, well outside her best, showing that she hasn’t yet fully recovered her from an Achilles injury sustained in the wake of her Melbourne triumph over Tonique Williams-Darling.
Lyne reconfirms world class status
In recent years the sprints have been guaranteed to produce the most competitive events at the UK championships. But this year the clock was turned back a couple of decades as the middle distance races that proving to be real tight battles, especially both the 800 metres races.
The women’s final featured no fewer than five women who have achieved the elite standard for Gothenburg of 2:01.00. At the head of that list was Rebecca Lyne, whose 1:58.20 in Gateshead moved her into third on the UK all-time list.
Lyne entered as favourite and ran a well-judged race to win in the home straight in 2:00.31 with Commonwealth Games finallist Jemma Simpson grabbing the second automatic qualifying in a hotly contested sprint finish. Simpson crossd the line in 2:00.49 with Amanda Pritchard a surprise third in 2:00.55, lifetime bests for both.
“This season has been incredible for me so far,” said Lyne, who is now in the hunt for a medal in Gothenburg. “Every race has gone really well and I am full of confidence.”
Like the women’s, the men’s 800m promised a race of some quality. For the first time for years, the final included three men who have run sub 1:46 this year. One of them was 20-year-old Michael Rimmer who ran an excellent race, shadowing the leader, Richard Hill, for 700m and winning the sprint for home in 1:47.20. Rimmer has now won national titles at under 15, under 17, under 20 and senior level.
Jo Pavey won the women’s 5000m with ease. The Commonwealth silver medallist opened a gap on Hayley Yelling in the third kilometre and crossed the line in 15:07.38, a time only herself and one other European, Norway¹s Susanne Wigene, have beaten this year.
“I would love to get a medal of some kind at the Europeans,” said Pavey. “It will be very tough but I am running very well at the moment.”
Sotherton pleased with her weekend
Kelly Sotherton won the latest round of her long jump battle with Jade Johnson. The Olympic heptathlon bronze medallist was below her best at 6.51, but good enough to beat her rival to the British title.
“No one jumped particularly well today but the important thing is I won and that’s what I came here to do,” she said.
Johnson took second with 6.32, well below her best of 6.80. She revealed afterwards that she has been suffering from a kidney infection but was still unhappy ¬she’ll have to improve considerably if she¹s to get anywhere close to the European silver medal she won in 2002.
“I just felt really flat today,” she said. “I felt really slow and just didn’t feel like myself.”
Sotherton went on to throw a personal best 13.98m in the Shot Put and ended the weekend pleased that her troublesome back had held up to the strains of four events. “It would have been nice to get over the magic 14m outdoors,” she said. “But it’s an improvement on the season so far.”
Helen Clitheroe won the women’s 1500m in 4:09.64 from Commonwealth silver medallist Lisa Dobriskey. And Andrew Baddeley won the men’s 1500m by a comfortable margin in 3:41.18.
Tasha Danvers Smith took the women’s 400m Hurdles title in 55.58 from Scotland’s Lee McConnell, despite running with a 2cm tear in her calf sustained at the European Cup in Malaga at the end of June.
The men’s race went to Rhys Williams in 49.28 which puts the 22-year-old Welshman in the hunt for a Gothenburg medal.
Matthew Brown for the IAAF
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UPDATE (18 July)
GBR & NI squad for European Championships
Team
Men:
100m
Tyrone Edgar (Woodford Green with Essex Ladies)
Mark Lewis-Francis (Birchfield Harriers)
200m
Marlon Devonish (Coventry Godiva)
Christian Malcolm (Cardiff AAC) *
400m
Tim Benjamin (Belgrave Harriers)
Graham Hedman (Woodford Green with Essex Ladies)
Robert Tobin (Basingstoke & Mid Hants)
800m
Sam Ellis (Barnsley AC)
Michael Rimmer (Liverpool. Pembroke & Sefton Harriers AC)
1500m
Andrew Baddeley (Harrow AC)
Stephen Davies (Newport)
5000m
Mohamed Farah (Newham & Essex Beagles)
Nick McCormick (Morpeth Harriers)
Chris Thompson (Aldershot Farnham & District)
Marathon
Thomas Abyu (Salford Harriers)
Hugh Lobb (Bedford AC)
Peter Riley (Leigh AC)
3000m SC
Adam Bowden (Harrow AC)
Jermaine Mays (Kent)
110mH
William Sharman (Belgrave Harriers)
Andrew Turner (Sale Harriers)
400mH
David Greene (Swansea Harriers)
Rhys Williams (Cardiff AAC)
4x400m Relay
Tim Benjamin (Belgrave Harriers)
Graham Hedman (Woodford Green with Essex Ladies)
Robert Tobin (Basingstoke & Mid Hants)
High Jump
Martyn Bernard (Unattached)
Germaine Mason (Birchfield Harriers)
Long Jump
Nathan Morgan (Birchfield Harriers)
Greg Rutherford (Marshall Milton Keynes)
Chris Tomlinson (Newham & Essex Beagles)
Triple Jump
Nathan Douglas (Oxford City)
Philips Idowu (Belgrave Harriers)
Shot
Carl Myerscough (Blackpool & Fylde)
Javelin
Michael Allen (Trafford AC)
Nick Nieland (Shaftesbury Barnet)
Decathlon
Dean Macey (Harrow AC)
Women
100m
Joice Maduaka (Woodford Green with Essex Ladies)
Anyika Onuora (Liverpool Harriers)
400m
Christine Ohuruogu (Newham & Essex Beagles)*
Nicola Sanders (Windsor, Slough Eton & Hounslow)
800m
Becky Lyne (Hallamshire Harriers)
Jemma Simpson (Newquay & Par AC)
1500m
Lisa Dobriskey (Ashford AC)
5000m
Jo Pavey (Exeter)
Hayley Yelling (Windsor, Slough Eton & Hounslow)
10000m
Kathy Butler (Windsor, Slough Eton & Hounslow)
Mara Yamauchi (Harrow AC)
Hayley Yelling (Windsor, Slough Eton & Hounslow)
Marathon
Tracey Morris (Valley Striders)
3000m SC
Hattie Dean (Hallamshire Harriers)
100mH
Gemma Bennett (Newham & Essex Beagles)
Sarah Claxton (Woodford Green with Essex Ladies)
Sara McGreavy (Sale Harriers)
400mH
Natasha Danvers Smith (Shaftesbury Barnet)
Lee McConnell (Shaftesbury Barnet)
Emma Duck (Team Southampton)
4x400m Relay
Nicola Sanders (Windsor, Slough Eton & Hounslow)
Christine Ohuruogu (Newham & Essex Beagles)*
Lee McConnell (Shaftesbury Barnet)
Pole Vault
Kate Dennison (Sale Harriers)
Ellie Spain (Shaftesbury Barnet)
Long Jump
Kelly Sotherton (Birchfield Harriers)
Discus
Claire Smithson (Brighton & Hove AC)
Hammer
Zoe Derham (Birchfield Harriers)
Shirley Webb (Trafford AC)
Javelin
Goldie Sayers (Belgrave Harriers)
Heptathlon
Jessica Ennis (Sheffield)
Kelly Sotherton (Birchfield Harriers)
* subject to fitness
