THIS REPORT COURTESY OF THE IAAF WEBSITE
Chambers rules supreme in Birmingham’s AAA Championships
Saturday 26 July 2003
British athletics has got a lot to thank its cohort of young male sprinters for. Not only do they continue to bring it international medals (note Leon Baptiste’s 100m gold at the European juniors in Tampere, Finland, on Friday) but they’ve also become the saviours of its national championships.
No other event at the Norwich Union World Trials and AAAs Championships in Birmingham this weekend contains anything like the same depth of world class athletes as the men’s 100m and 200m, many with realistic medal chances at next month’s World Championships in Paris. Indeed, few of Britain’s other medal hopes are competing at all this weekend, and if it wasn’t for the men’s 100m final this evening, and the 200m and 400m tomorrow, the “World Trials” would feel decidedly flat.
That sense only increased on Friday night when the world number three 400m hurdler Natasha Danvers became the latest UK medal hope to hit the casualty list. Danvers pulled out of the heats after tearing a ligament in the arch of her foot while warming up, adding her name to the list of stars, such as Steve Backley, Paula Radcliffe, Jonathan Edwards, Kelly Holmes, Jo Pavey, Ashia Hansen, and Nathan Morgan, all of whom are not here for one reason or another.
Danvers’ 400m Hurdles final was due to be one of the highlights of this evening’s programme, second on the billing only to the men’s 100m final. Luckily, the top show was bursting with enough quality to carry the day. The final line-up pitched European champion Dwain Chambers against former world junior champion Mark Lewis-Francis, European indoor champion Jason Gardner, former European champion Darren Campbell, and former world junior champion Christian Malcolm.
With only the first two guaranteed selection, some international medal-winners were bound to miss out on the trip to the French capital next month. That dubious honour fell to Gardner and Malcolm (who came home fourth and fifth respectively), while it was Chambers who powered to victory through the rain, stopping the clock at an impressive 10.08. It was his third win on British soil in the last month, and a great confidence booster after an indifferent campaign on the continent.
“The AAAs is when it counts,” he said afterwards. “It separates the men from the boys. If you win you go to the Worlds; if you don’t you may be sitting at home watching it on TV, and that thought scares me. I don’t want to be sitting at home.”
Chambers’ closest challenge was expected to come from local boy Lewis-Francis, who has beaten him twice this summer on the circuit. But Campbell proved to be the surprise package, clocking 10.19 to take second place. Lewis-Francis was out of the picture in lane one, and struggled home third in front of his home town crowd for a disappointing 10.25. He’s likely still to be in the team, however, as the selectors’ discretionary third choice.
“My little boy has been cursing me because I finished third, fourth and fifth in the past, so this one is for him,” said Campbell, while Lewis-Francis spurned not only the press and the public after the race, but also the medal ceremony, and headed straight to the physiotherapist table for treatment on his left thigh. While his championships are over, Chambers and Campbell return tomorrow, hoping for a repeat result in the longer sprint, where Malcolm will also run again.
The women’s 100m was less eventful, the gold going, as expected, to Joice Maduaka in 11.31. Maduaka, who has improved greatly since she joined Linford Christie’s training group last year, is still seeking the qualifying time for Paris, and her efforts here were hampered as she struggled to keep her contact lens in place during the race.
Maduaka wasn’t the only international chasing qualifying marks. The women’s long jump was won by Jade Johnson, the Commonwealth and European silver medalist, with a first round leap of 6.49m. But a foot injury prevented her from extending that towards the 6.77m A standard she needs to guarantee a place in Paris. Her last four attempts were fouls.
Earlier, the newly crowned European under 23 champion Helen Karagounis ended a perfect week for her by taking the women’s 400m final in 52.51. She fought off the challenge of 2002 European indoor finalist Catherine Murphy in the home straight, and claimed victory by 0.41 seconds.
The championship’s injury voodoo struck again, though, prior to this race when Lee McConnell, the fastest Briton so far this season, felt a twinge in her hamstring while warming up. Merry, the Olympic bronze medalist, who didn’t compete because she’s been suffering from tonsillitis, said today she is unlikely to run in Paris even if she recovered enough to achieve the qualifying mark. “I want to be in shape to compete for medals,” she said.
Like Merry, Danvers was only able to sit in the stands and watch as the women’s 400m Hurdles went to Liz Fairs in a personal best 57.06. But there was controversy in the men’s event when world number two Chris Rawlinson was at first disqualified for a trailing leg at hurdle seven, then reinstated, after cruising through his semi-final in 50.32.
“I am one of the few so-called named athletes to turn up,” he said. “I put my neck on the line and they do this to me. I could have stayed at home and watched it on TV.”
The only national record fell when Tara Krzywicki clocked 6:28.07 in the women’s 2000m steeplechase, a race in which no fewer than nine other athletes achieved personal bests.
In the absence of Holmes and Pavey, Hayley Tullett won the women’s 1500m, running away for the field to cross the line in 4:08.12. And former Commonwealth champion Larry Achike made the most of Edwards’ absence, as he returned to something like decent form following a winter of injuries to win the men’s triple jump with a season’s best leap of 16.55m.
Ben Challenger also produced his best of the year, 2.24m, to beat the old timer Dalton Grant in the high jump. Backley’s absence from the men’s javelin left the way clear for his training partner Mick Hill to take the title with 76.35m.
In the men’s 400m semi-finals, world indoor silver medalist Daniel Caines, set the quickest qualifying time, cruising home comfortably ahead of Iwan Thomas and former 100m man Ian Mackie, in 45.75. Caines is the only man in the field to have achieved the world championships qualifying time so far this year, and looks a clear favourite for tomorrow’s final.
Former world indoor champion Jamie Baulch was run out of the final, though. The experienced one-lapper committed the elementary error of pulling up early in the last few strides, and lost the fourth and final qualifying spot by two hundredths of a second on the line.
Matthew Brown for the IAAF