Dwain Chambers reclaims national 100m title with Trials victory• Britain’s leading sprinter earns European Championships place
• Former pariah renews popular appeal by cavorting with mascot
Anna Kessel in Birmingham guardian.co.uk, Saturday 26 June 2010
Dwain Chambers reclaimed the British 100m title with a run of 10.14 seconds into a strong headwind. The 32 year-old, who last weekend ran 9.99 seconds at the European Team Championships in Bergen – just 0.02sec off his personal best from 2001 and a time that no Briton has bettered since – had hoped to dip under 10 seconds again in Birmingham yesterday at the Aviva European Trials, but the wind was just too strong.
The former pariah of the sport received the loudest cheer of the afternoon from the Birmingham crowd as he consistently nailed the fastest times through the rounds and joined in with the party atmosphere by exchanging high fives with the mascot, Spike.
Chambers, the world and European indoor sprint champion, is gearing up for a promising summer as he seeks to challenge France’s latest sprinting sensation, 20 year-old Christophe Lamaitre, for the gold medal in Barcelona.
James Dasaolu took second place in 10.23, with the Olympic relay gold medallist Marlon Devonish third in 10.34.
Dame Kelly Holmes’s prodigy, Hannah England, won the 1500 metres in a personal best of 4min 03.33sec to banish the memories of missing out on a selection place the last two years running having twice finished third at the trials — the first time ahead of the Beijing Olympics and then last year before the World Championships. The 23 year-old, who showed her quality by finishing in second place at the World Athletics Final last year, was overjoyed as she secured the automatic qualification spot that ensures she will travel to her first major senior championship.
“The last couple of years I have literally been sat in the corridor crying my eyes out and I was so scared it was going to happen again,” she said. “It hasn’t, and I’m so happy maybe I’ll cry down the corridor anyway.”
A slow race was finished off with a fast sprint as England left the world silver medallist and Commonwealth champion Lisa Dobriskey and junior world cross country champion Steph Twell trailing in third and fifth place respectively.
Afterwards she cited Holmes’s mentoring as key to her victory. “I had a really nice text off Kelly the day before the heats,” she said. "She watched my race back from last week — the European Team Championships — she told me to concentrate a little bit more in the last 100m, I tend to get a bit desperate. She told me just to relax and it will come. I practised that last night because she suggested that and I managed to execute it today. I had a careful think about last year this morning and then that was it.
“I put it out of my mind. I thought ‘I’m not going to think about that again’ because it was such a hard time and I was so miserable. It’s nice to have a happy memory now.”
In the absence of the world champion, Jessica Ennis, struggling with a virus, her understudy Louise Hazel kept the heptathlete flag flying as she produced a personal best to win the 100m hurdles in 13.32sec. The Olympic 400m champion, Christine Ohuruogu, was also absent yesterday with a tight quadriceps muscle. Veteran one-lap runner Lee McConnell made the most of her opportunity by taking the title in 51.55sec, with the world silver medallist Nicola Sanders finishing second in 52.70. Jenny Meadows won her 800m semi-final in the fastest time of the day, 2:02.46, but the world bronze medallist and world indoor silver medallist decided to withdraw from this evening’s final after complaining of a “niggle” in her calf.
Following discussions with her husband and coach, Trevor Painter, and UK Athletics’ head coach, Charles van Commenee, the 28 year-old decided to take the precautionary measure
“My calf is very tight,” she said. "I’ve had an achilles problem where my calf tightens up constantly which is why I got near the front to run an honest pace. In slow races it can get tighter. The trials are good as a fitness test.
“I was in brilliant shape in Rome but I’ve taken a few steps back since then but I’m not panicking. It’s not an injury but a niggle, and niggles can be a long process. I feel confident that I will be in top shape for the Europeans.”
Meadows’s rivals Marilyn Okoro and Jemma Simpson will battle for the spoils after finishing first and second in 2:03.59 and 2:03.73 respectively in their semi.