Whitlock vaults 4.40m
national women’s pole vault record but sprinters retain top billing
Chris Turner for the IAAF
14 July 2001 - Birmingham, England - With
the assistance of a strong tail wind Janine Whitlock jumped 4.40 metres to set the 34th
national pole vault record of her career at the Norwich Union UK World Trials and
AAA’s championships in Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium, during a competition in
which two other women also managed to clear 4.00m, the benchmark height for world class
vaulting.
“All season I have been jumping with a head wind and all that I needed was a back wind and it happened out there” said a confident Whitlock who continued “my earlier successful jump at 4.30m was the key to my performance today. I’ve never cleared that height with so much distance above the bar before and after that I knew I could go higher in this competition. With this sort of confidence I can pick any pole just now and jump with it!”
Yet whatever happened elsewhere in today’s eight hour programme of competition nothing not even a British record was going to usurp the men’s 100 metres dash from it’s top billing. When the final did eventually get started after a number of timetable delays the spectators were not disappointed. Britain’s World Championships bronze medallist Dwain Chambers had an exceptionally good start and was followed by World Junior Champion Mark Lewis-Francis who was also cleanly away from the blocks. Close in contention from gun to tape was also Olympic 200 metres semi finallist Christian Malcolm and the surprisingly fluent 20 year Chris Lambert, who runs for Chambers’ club Belgrave.
Given that the wind had blown relentlessly throughout the rest of the day it was lucky that it subsided slightly by the time of the final and when Chambers crossed the line (10.01 sec) followed by Lewis-Francis (10.12), Malcolm (10.21) and Lambert (10.24) everybody was surprised to find the times were legal (+1.7m/s). These performances along with the semi final round (Lewis-Francis 10.14; Chambers 10.20; Lambert 10.24; Malcolm 10.27) re-affirmed Britain’s position as a real power house in world sprinting.
“The start was just nerves. I was so nervous about getting away from Mark after what he did in the semis. I was wound up after the semi final because we were delayed by more than half an hour and I was so worried about the nightmare that happened in the Olympic Games (4th) when I cramped up. I thought I am not going through that again! Anyway I am very consistent with 10.00secs this year and that bodes well for the world championships” said Chambers.
Elsewhere today we were also privileged to witness remarkable comebacks by two of the leading stars of British athletics. First World indoor triple jump record holder Ashia Hansen jumped a season’s best 14.09m to post her world championship credentials after months out with injury. Then in the penultimate final of the evening, women’s Olympic 800 metres bronze medallist Kelly Holmes who has had so many injuries during her career that her injury resume reads more like an hospital accident department’s admissions list, dug deep to win the 800 metres final in 2:02.61 minutes. Holmes has been suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome since wintering in South Africa and coming on the back of her 2mins win in Madrid in the week everything now bodes well for yet another world championship medal bid in Edmonton.
“I had doubts in myself because I was not sure that I had recovered properly (after yesterday’s first round heat, 2:05.23mins) but at least this win has given me the confidence that I can get through rounds which is what I will need to do in a months time (in Edmonton) said a delighted Holmes.
Full results can be found on UK Athletics web site.
