Kenenisa Bekele wins the 5000m in Birmingham in a world indoor record (© Getty Images)
Birmingham, UK‘Any comment Malcolm?’ called a journalist to British sprint coach Malcolm Arnold as he wandered through the mixed zone at the UK Championships in Sheffield last weekend.
‘Well, it feels a bit strange,’ said Arnold, who’d just watched two of his young University of Bath-based athletes take first and second in the men’s 60m. ‘I’ve got one and two but then he’s had a bad one,’ said Arnold, gesturing to Jason Gardener, the 31-year-old three-times European 60m champion who was escaping from a barrage of unwelcome media queries as fast as he could.
Gardener had just endured probably one of the worst runs of his life – finishing seventh – while Craig Pickering and Ryan Scott got the better of their highly experienced and multi-medalled mentor to take the gold and silver. ‘Any thoughts of retiring?’ blurted one journalist.
But Gardener is too savvy to make irrational decisions like that in that in the heat of the moment. “I need to reflect a bit,” he said. “Let’s see what happens in Birmingham.” Then, as if making his mind up there and then, added, “I’ll be there in Birmingham. I’ll definitely be there.”
The pupil-master drama thrown up by Pickering’s rivalry with the former World indoor champion has been the main talking point of the British indoor season so far, and the latest twist in the tale is set for the Norwich Union Grand Prix - IAAF Indoor Permit - meeting in Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena tomorrow (17).
Despite his defeats by Pickering (he also lost to the 20-year-old at the Norwich Union International in Glasgow three weeks ago, and in Stuttgart seven days later), Gardener is still ranked number three in Europe thanks to the 6.58 he ran in Vienna at the end of January, and number 10 in the world.
He also received a boost this week when he was named in the British squad for the European championships, alongside his two training partners, who will make their senior international debuts at the NIA in early March. “All three of us could make the final,” said Pickering this week.
Francis Obikwelu will be one of their main rivals for medals and the Portuguese star, who lines up against the ‘Malcolm’s musketeers’ tomorrow for a warm-up contest, is relishing the prospect of ‘a proper test’.
“Pickering has been fantastic so far this season but I will also be looking out for Gardener,” said Portugal’s double European outdoor sprint champion. “He is a true champion and a true competitor and will be sure to bounce back to his best form soon.”
“A one-off race is much different (to a championship), and it will be a proper test this Saturday. I am not taking anything for granted this early in the season.”
Bekele and Isinbyeva - chasing records
Of course, this IAAF permit meeting throws up far more of interest than just a bit of domestic sprint drama, with a raft of international stars ready to chase records and prizes.
Two athletes who are no strangers to the NIA are Yelena Isinbayeva and Kenenisa Bekele. The Russian pole vaulter pushed the World indoor record to 4.88 in this arena in 2005 and, having just popped it up to 4.93 last weekend, is keen to add a further world mark to her ever-growing list.
‘I won’t be back in the city for the European indoor championships so I want to perform well for the crowd at the grand prix,’ she said. ‘I am pleased with my pole vaulting at the moment so of course I hope to break my world record again.’
Bekele also has World record history in Birmingham. The Ethiopian set his World indoor 5000m record at this meeting three years ago and this year will take on a raft of Kenyans plus the clock over 2000m, with Haile Gebrselassie’s 1998 World best of 4:52.86 the target.
After suffering a minor injury during a quality training session at home in Ethiopia he had to pull out of the Valencia indoor meeting (10 Feb), and so despite dramatic cross country victories in Edinburgh and Seville this year tomorrow will be his first outing on the track this winter.
“I feel ready to run a fast time in Birmingham, and of course I will be pleased if I can set another World record,” said Bekele. “I'm pleased with my form at the moment – 2007 has started well for me in the cross country, and I want to continue with that success indoors too.”
Bekele won the Two Mile race at this event last year and has enjoyed a number of victories at the Birmingham track. “I always enjoy racing in Birmingham, as I have done well there in the past,” he added. “The Birmingham crowd always gives lots of support, so I am looking forward to running in front of them again.”
Lagat, 3000m; Carter / Jackson go over 400m; Robles, sprint hurdles
Other men’s middle distance highlights include USA’s Bernard Lagat in the 3000m against his former compatriots Augustine Choge, Boniface Songok and Paul Koech, and European cross country champion Mo Farah in an all-British ‘devil take the hindmost’ mile. This is a race in which the last man across the line at the end of every lap from laps two to seven is eliminated, leaving six to battle it out over the final circuit.
Elsewhere on the track Xavier Carter and Bershawn Jackson go head-to-head in the 400m, and Britain’s in-form Andy Turner takes on Cuba’s Dayron Robles, the world’s fastest man so far, in the 60m Hurdles.
Olsson returns to competition; Quality Shot Put and High Jump fields
There are intriguing contests in the men’s field events too, particularly in the Triple Jump where the world leader Christian Olsson takes on Britain’s Nathan Douglas and Phillips Idowu in what could be a preview of the European championships final in two weeks time. The Swede had been competitively sidelined by injury niggles which saw him miss Gothenburg and Stuttgart though he returned with 17.44m in Karlsruhe on 11 February which was his last competition.
The Shot Put brings the US trio of Christian Cantwell, Daniel Taylor and Reese Hoffa together against Denmark’s Joachim Olsen and Britain’s Carl Myerscough, while the High Jump includes Yuriy Krimarenko, Yaroslav Rybakov, Mark Boswell and the Czech pair of Svatoslav Ton and and Tomas Janku.
Gevaert back from rest
Kim Gevaert is the headline star of the women’s track events. The Belgian who won the sprint double at last summer’s European championships will take on this year’s quickest in the 60m, Laverne Jones of the US Virgin Islands. Gevaert missed her home meeting in Gent on Sunday 4 February, as having just returned from a training spell in South Africa she did not feel sufficiently prepared for competition. Saturday will be her first outing of this indoor season.
Sanders - on top of the world
When Nicola Sanders ran 50.60 at the UK trials last weekend it shocked even herself – it’s almost a second quicker than anyone else has run this year – but immediately said it might be her only indoor race this seaon. Clearly someone has persuaded her otherwise, for she competes here against international opposition in the form of Hazel Ann Regis from Grenada and Jamacia’s Ronetta Smith.
The British trio of Jenny Meadows, Marilyn Okoro and Karen Harewood will face World indoor record holder, and number two in the world this year, Jolanda Ceplak, plus her Slovenian teammate Bigita Langerholc, over 800m, while Britain’s Jo Pavey steps down to Two Miles to take on the Commonwealth 1500m champion Lisa Dobriskey.
Matthew Brown for the IAAF
