British Olympic Trials - a nervous weekend ahead

Manchester, UKThe annual scramble for places in the Great Britain athletics team gets underway this weekend (July 10 and 11) at a bright new venue in north west England, featuring many of the same old faces and shadowed by a few of the same old problems.

The Norwich Union Olympic Trials and AAA Championships will be held for the first time this year at Manchester’s Regional Arena, the £3.5 million stadium that began life two years ago as the warm-up and training track for the Commonwealth Games, held so successfully at the nearby City of Manchester Stadium in 2002.

Most of the top names on show

Clearly the organisers are hoping some of the magical atmosphere from those Games will transfer to the new arena, which has been fitted with seating for 6,000 spectators. With its new “toughened” stance against athletes who fail to compete at the Trials, they have ensured the event will feature some of Britain’s “big” names – Olympic medallists Denise Lewis, Kelly Holmes, Steve Backley and Manchester’s own Darren Campbell among them.

Fast Track, UK Athletics’ promotional agency, is continuing with the policy it introduced during the indoor season of penalising athletes financially if they skip the Trials by withholding a quarter of their promotional payments from the other UKA televised meetings this season.

Former Olympic hurdler Jon Ridgeon, managing partner at Fast Track, explains: “The aim in all of this is to get the very best field possible for the Olympic Trials and AAAs. The introduction of season-wide as opposed to meet-by-meet deals during the indoor season proved to be a major success so it is something we will continue with.”

 Clear selection policy

As usual, the UKA’s policy dictates that the first two across the line at the weekend are selected automatically, provided they have the Olympic qualifying standard, with the third place left to the discretion of the selection panel. However, in all likelihood, the selectors will have relatively few tough decisions come Sunday night, for in many events it will be a case of simply taking those who are fit and eligible.

The team has already been robbed of some of its main medal hopes due to injury (Ashia Hansen, triple jump), pregnancy (Natasha Danvers, 400m hurdles), and drugs (Carl Myerscough, who has qualified for both shot and discus but is ineligible under the rules of the British Olympic Association because of a previous drugs suspension). What’s more, only in three events – the men’s sprints and 400m hurdles, and in the women’s 1500m – have three or more athletes achieved the Olympic A standard so far.

Whether more will do so this weekend is open to doubt as reports suggest the Manchester track is “spongy and slow”, although after a junior international held there last Saturday (3 July), Max Jones, UK Athletics’ Performance Director, disagrees. “In some circles, it has been viewed as a slow track,” he said. “But looking at the evidence of what happened at the Norwich Union Junior International, that’s not the case at all. It points to some really outstanding times at the Trials.”

Little treasure on the horizon

Nevertheless, the drop in national standards was highlighted recently by Peter Matthews, editor of the International Track and Field Annual, who predicted on www.britishathletics.info, that Britain has a realistic chance of medals in just a handful of events in Athens. He tipped Paula Radcliffe for gold in the Marathon, and names Chris Rawlinson in the men’s 400m Hurdles and the men’s 4x100m relay team as potential minor medallists.

“There are clearly more chances for Britain but this may represent a more realistic total estimate of our result,” he says.

While Matthews names 10 other events where Britons could figure among the final eight, after taking two golds and six medals overall in Sydney four years ago, the Athens odyssey could lead to very little treasure for the British team.

Radcliffe’s place already secure

Radcliffe’s place in the squad has long been secure and, after her weather-defying 10,000m in Gateshead two weeks ago, she has returned to her training base in southern France. For most, though, the Olympic journey begins this weekend when, even without Dwain Chambers, the men’s sprints will again provide the fiercest battles.

Fierce sprint battles

Former World Junior champion Mark Lewis-Francis is quickest of the 100m boys so far this year, although with “only” 10.17 to his name and a niggling Achilles injury, he is not exactly setting the world alight. Chief among his rivals will be Campbell, the Paris bronze medallist, who ran 10.21 in Rome, and Jason Gardener, the World Indoor 60m champion who, not for the first time, has yet to reproduce his indoor form outdoors.

Gardener had a double hernia operation shortly after his Budapest victory and has been struggling to regain full racing fitness. “It’s a little strange for me coming back from the operation and working back into full fitness,” he said after finishing fifth at the Gateshead Grand Prix behind World champion Kim Collins. “The Olympics is not going to move for everybody, so it is just about getting the timing right.”

The new kid on the blocks is Nick Smith, a 22 year-old who has matched Gardener’s 2004 best of 10.28. Smith will be hoping to shave that down by at least seven hundredths to meet the A mark this weekend.

Hot 200m

If anything, competition in the 200m is even hotter. Campbell, the Olympic silver medallist at this distance, is one of six men with the qualifying time, although he is only fourth fastest in the field this year, with 20.59. The quickest of 2004 is former Commonwealth Games champion Julian Golding, with 20.41, followed by Sydney Olympic finallist Christian Malcolm (20.56) and European under 23 gold medallist Chris Lambert, who beat Malcolm in Gateshead (20.57). The former world indoor champion Marlon Devonish and Dwayne Grant will also be in the running.

The 400m should be a battle between Tim Benjamin and Daniel Caines – Caines is slightly quicker this year with 45.29 – although Jamie Baulch, Sean Baldock and Jared Deacon will all be aiming to slip under the 45.55 standard.

Trying to emulate past glories

With his 1500m place virtually assured, Michael East is trying and emulate past British middle distance greats by doubling up in Athens, and will make a rare outing over 800m in Manchester. The last time an Olympic middle distance double was attempted by a Brit was Seoul 1988 when Steve Cram and Peter Elliott entered both events.

“The Olympic 800m comes after the 1500m so I reckoned it was worth having a stab at it as well,” says East, the Commonwealth Games 1500m champion. If he finishes in the top two, East will then go for the 1:46.00 qualifying time before the Olympic deadline of 19 July.

Rawlinson – a chance to impress

The 400m Hurdles will give Chris Rawlinson a chance to continue his impressive form. After running 48.19 in Iraklion, Rawlinson is the third quickest in the world this year and should win easily in Manchester, although Matt Douglas also dipped under 50 seconds in Crete, clocking 49.52.

In the field events, the pressure will be on national long jump record holder Chris Tomlinson, who still needs the 8.19m qualifying mark to ensure his place in the team. He jumped a windy 8.28m at the European Cup in Poland, but his legal best stands at 8.13m. Many eyes will be on javelin thrower Steve Backley too. The Olympic silver medallist has yet to reach 80 metres this year and has a lot of improving to do if his Olympic swansong is to be a glorious one.

Lewis to take on five events

The presence of Lewis, the Olympic Heptathlon champion, in the Shot, Javelin, Long Jump and 100m Hurdles will be a highlight of the women’s events. Lewis is already selected (along with Kelly Sotherton) but needs competition to sharpen her fitness and technique before Athens. “I have taken a layered approach to my Athens build up, starting off mainly on my throws and then building in the jumps and track events,” said Lewis, who will also compete in a three-event challenge at the Norwich Union International in Birmingham on 25 July.

Sotherton, Lewis’s training partner, could provide one of the talking points of the weekend if she beats European medallist Jade Johnson in the long jump, an event she wants to enter in Athens as well as the heptathlon. Johnson, the established British number one, has yet to achieve the Olympic A standard and trails Sotherton in this year’s rankings with 6.49m to her rival’s 6.68m.

Provided she finishes in the top two, Sotherton only has to improve 2cm to guarantee selection, while Johnson will have to get close to her two-year old personal best of 6.73m to make the team. Both have the B standard, but if neither achieves the A mark only one will be selected and so far Sotherton is top of the field.

While there will be intense rivalry in the women’s sprints, chiefly between Joice Maduaka and Abi Oyepitan, the toughest competition in the women’s track events should come in the one-lap and middle distance races.

The 400m will pitch Scotland’s Lee McConnell, the fastest this year with 50.87, against the returning to form Donna Fraser (51.11). Helen Karagounis (50.91 this year), European under 23 medallist Christine Ohurougu (52.20) and Catherine Murphy (52.31) will all be in the running, searching for the qualifying standard of 51.50.

Holmes versus Fenn

In the 800m Olympic bronze medallist Kelly Holmes will go head-to-head against Jo Fenn, the world indoor bronze medallist. Holmes is the only athlete under two minutes this season but has made the 1500m her Olympic priority. In the absence of teenager Charlotte Moore, who is off to the world juniors, the challenge to these two should come from Susan Scott and Rebecca Lyne.

The 1500m field is topped by World bronze medallist Hayley Tullett, who is just one hundredth quicker than Holmes this year at 4:03.72. Those two are currently more than four seconds ahead of their rivals. In the absence of Holmes, Tullett’s main challenge could come from Helen Clitheroe (pb 4:01.10) or Jo Pavey (4:01.79 last year). Pavey has already qualified for both the 1500m and 5000m and is entered in both events in Manchester.

Other potential Olympic finallists will include triple jumper Phillips Idowu, who is hoping to get back into 17 metre form, and national Hammer record holder Lorraine Shaw, who’s looking for her seventh AAA title and fifth in a row.

These two already have the Olympic qualifying standard and should secure their Athens tickets in Manchester. For many others, however, it could be a nervous weekend.

Matthew Brown for the IAAF