Jonathan Edwards jumps 17.44 In Birmingham (© Getty Images)
The heart of the English Midlands has become the home of world athletics in recent weeks. Having hosted the highly successful Norwich Union Grand Prix last Friday (21 February), this weekend Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena will stage the Norwich Union World Indoor Trials and AAA Championships, as the finishing touches are put to the preparations for staging the 9th IAAF World Indoor Championships in the National Indoor Arena (NIA) in two weeks time.
The air inside the NIA is still ringing with the cheers of 8000 awestruck fans who witnessed World record performances by Haile Gebrselassie (World best) and Svetlana Feofanova just over a week ago. And although World records are unlikely this weekend, many of the fans and some of the stars from that night will be back, with the athletes hoping to claim their places in the UK team and test their legs again on the World Championships track.
With only winners guaranteed a place in the British squad, competition will be fierce in many events. But none more so than the men’s 60m where the European Indoor gold and silver medallists from a year ago, face the European outdoor 100m champion in a three-way battle for the two selection slots.
Double European 60m champion Jason Gardener will be full of confidence after winning the Grand Prix last week, where he pushed the home town hero Mark Lewis-Francis into third place. Most surprising that night was the poor form of European 100m champion Dwain Chambers who failed even to make the final, having littered the press the previous week with his outspoken and ambitious predictions.
Gardener, who won in a season’s best of 6.49, was content to let his feet do the talking. “What counts is what’s done out there, not what is said in the press before hand,” he said. “Out there is where it’s won.” Chambers, who insists his poor performance that night was no reflection of the kind of shape he’s in, will be out for revenge, while Lewis-Francis is eager he doesn’t miss out on a World Championships staged in his own city.
It all adds an extra edge to the ritual rivalry between Britain’s fastest men, a rivalry that will recommence on Saturday at 6.10pm GMT.
One athletics ritual that will soon be over will be the sight of Colin Jackson hurdling his way towards another British championship. The 36-year-old Welshman will run this weekend in his last ever national championships, having won seven previous indoor AAA titles. The World 60m Hurdles record holder clocked the fourth fastest time in the world this year (7.51) at the Norwich Union Grand Prix, and looks set to go out with a bang in the same arena in two weeks time.
While Jackson is hardly expected to face any serious challenge in the Hurdles, there will be a hot battle for places in the men’s longer 'flat' sprints. The 1998 Commonwealth 200m champion Julian Golding is back to form this season, having become the forgotten man of British sprinting in recent years. He will challenge 2001 World Indoor silver medallist Christian Malcolm over a lap, knowing that nothing less than victory will ensure his place in the team. Marlon Devonish, the European outdoor bronze medallist last summer, raced to victory at the Grand Prix a week ago in the world’s second fastest time, but is undecided whether to compete at the World Indoor Championships, and will not contest the trials.
Two World Indoor champions will come head to head in the 400m when Daniel Caines (2001) faces Jamie Baulch (1999), although both could be challenged by ‘outsiders’ – Australia’s Daniel Batman (pb 45.52) and Bahamas Chris Brown (45.27). Local boy Caines clocked a world season’s best of 45.75 at the Norwich Union Grand Prix, where Baulch was fourth in 46.43 after an aggressive start, although the Welshman improved that time to 46.21 in Lievin just 48 hours later.
While the trials will be missing a couple of Britain’s top stars – Jonathan Edwards and Kelly Holmes – who are virtually guaranteed of their places, another Birmingham-based favourite will be hopping, skipping and jumping to the delight of her home-town supporters. On the back of her thrilling last-leap victories at the Commonwealth Games and European Championships last summer, Ashia Hansen in front of her home crowd has her heart set on regaining the World Indoor Triple Jump crown, which she took in 1999.
No one doubts Hansen’s name will already be on the team sheet, as, with a world leading 14.71m at the Grand Prix, she seemed to oust any lingering worries about her injured heel. “With the World Championships being here I think I stretched myself a bit more,” she said after that victory.
Expect her to do so again this weekend, as she, like Birmingham itself, gets ready for the big one.
Matthew Brown for the IAAF
