UK Champs: Devonish double

Devonish storms to sprint double

Devonish looked in impressive form in Manchester
Marlon Devonish claimed a superb sprint double after a thrilling finish in the men’s 200m at the European Trials.
Devonish, who won the 100m on Saturday in 10.19 seconds, was neck-and-neck with Rikki Fifton on the line but was given the race with a time of 20.69.

“I am very pleased,” said Devonish, who finished strongly in Manchester after a poor start. "It is a dream come true to do the double.

“I did not win as I would have liked but I came through.”

Devonish is the first male athlete to complete the sprint double since Linford Christie in 1988.

He is still to decide whether to race over both distances in Gothenburg and says the 200m is his priority.

“I think I’m just going to do the 200 - but I’m going to speak over the next week with my coach and give a serious answer,” he added.

Tim Benjamin sealed a morale-boosting victory in the 400m after suffering a frustrating season with injury.

The 24-year-old Welshman, who has been troubled by a persistent groin injury, recorded a time of 46:00 with Martyn Rooney second and Robert Tobin third.

“It is a big relief,” he said. "I have had another hard time with injury, although people are probably sick of hearing about it.

“I was really lucky to be here and I ran a sensible race. I took it easy for the first 200m so I would have enough later.”

Phillips Idowu looked in impressive form as he won the triple jump in 17.50m, the third longest in Europe this season, while Michael Rimmer ran 1:47.20 to claim the 800m.

Nick Nieland threw 80.56m to win the javelin.

Jo Pavey clinched 5,000m victory with an impressive front-running display, lapping rising star Emily Pidgeon in the process.

Pavey, fifth at the previous European Championships in Munich four years ago, led throughout to win in 15 minutes 07.38 seconds in sweltering conditions.

The 32-year-old Exeter Harrier overtook European junior champion Pidgeon with 60m to go on her way to victory.

She said: “It went really well. I needed to do a 5km before Gothenburg.”

But it was a harsh lesson for highly-rated youngster Pidgeon.

Pavey added: "The heat obviously affected the times and towards the finish I was feeling a little delirious.

"Pidgeon is still young and it was a good experience for her. I suppose a lot of pressure has been put on her.

“She has just got to get on with it as the London Olympics is putting a lot of pressure not only on her but on other youngsters.”

Joice Maduaka ran a season’s best of 23:24 to win the 200m and claim a women’s sprint double.

And despite beating Emily Freeman into second, Maduaka said she was not happy with her time.

“I am disappointed with that,” she said. “It was not the qualifying time but it was a big ask considering how many times I have run this weekend.”

Kelly Sotherton won the women’s long jump with a jump of 6.51m, beating rival Jade Johnson (6.32) into second.

Sotherton also took part in the shot and finished seventh with a personal best of 13.97m. Julie Dunkley won the event with a throw of 16.08 - a season’s best.

Becky Lyne, who last month clocked the third fastest time by a British woman over 800m, won her event in 2:00.31.

“This season has been incredible for me so far. Every race has gone really well and I’m full of confidence,” she said.

Tasha Danvers-Smith beat Lee McConnell to win the women’s 400m hurdles in a time of 55:58 while Nicola Sanders won the 400m in 50.74.

Both times were inside the qualifying mark.

Helen Clitheroe won the 1500m in 4:09.64 with Kent’s Commonwealth Games champion Lisa Dobriskey in second.