Van Commenee names Indoors team
• 38-strong Great Britain team travelling to next month’s meet
• Head coach impressed by progress in endurance events
Charles van Commenee has named a 38-strong British team for next month’s World Indoor Championships in Doha.
Although no medal target has been announced, two years ago Britain won five medals – one gold and four silvers – and the head coach is expected to demand a similar haul this year, depending on whether established athletes such as the defending world indoor champion triple jumper Phillips Idowu, heptathlon world champion Jessica Ennis and world silver medallist Dwain Chambers all deliver.
It is Chambers who has looked in the best form leading up to the competition, despite struggling to find meets that allow him to race because of his two-year suspension in 2003. Chambers is the fastest man in the world this year after he ran 6.50sec two weeks ago. The 21-year-old Harry Aikines-Aryeetey snatched the second available sprints place – selected over Craig Pickering and Mark Lewis-Francis – after his 6.55sec personal best performance at the UK trials.
Fresh from her 800m British record-breaking run in Birmingham last weekend Jenny Meadows, ranked No2 in the world, will hope to add another medal to the bronze that she won at the world championships last year.
Van Commenee said he was delighted with the number of athletes who reached the qualifying standard to be able to compete in Doha. “The team is slightly bigger than I would have anticipated at the start of the winter season, which positively shows the depth of the pool of athletes we have,” the Dutchman said. “We have names which will make the podium if they perform to potential and there is always room for outsiders.”
One discipline that has impressed is endurance. Van Commenee has invested heavily in this area during the first year of his stewardship, and the triumvirate of coaches in charge – Ian Stewart, George Gandy, and Spencer Barden – have clearly reaped results. A ream of new names, almost all of them making their senior debut for Great Britain, have qualified for the team, indicating a depth in talent beyond the more established faces.
Van Commenee welcomed the debutants. “This competition gives athletes an opportunity to gain championship experience on a global level. The endurance athletes especially have taken this chance with lots of new faces in those disciplines.”
Gandy’s stable has produced one of those names – the 1500m runner Charlotte Best, who hails from the same training group as world silver medallist Lisa Dobriskey. Gandy’s protege, Dobriskey, however, will not be competing in Doha, instead preferring to concentrate on the outdoor season.
Others making their senior debuts include Ed Aston and Andrew Osagie, both regulars on the domestic circuit, who each put in impressive 800m performances over the last two weeks to secure their places. Vicky Griffiths has been on the cusp of the senior team for years but has never managed to run the qualifying time before – she will join Meadows in the women’s 800m. Novice Gemma Turtle will run in the 3,000m – only Scott Overall in the 1500m has had any senior international experience, having competed in the European Cross Country Championships in 2008.
Great Britain and Northern Ireland team
Coach in brackets, club in italics
Men
60m Dwain Chambers (Daniel Plummer) Belgrave, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey (Michael Khmel) Sutton
400m Richard Buck (Michael Khmel) City of York, Dale Garland (Malcolm Arnold) Channel Islands
800m Andrew Osagie (Craig Winrow) Harlow, Ed Aston (Mike Smith) Cambridge & Coleridge
1500m Tim Bayley (John Bigg/Chris Puppione) Belgrave Harriers
3,000m Scott Overall (Robert Chapman) Blackheath & Bromley
4×400m Richard Buck (Michael Khmel) City of York, Dale Garland (Malcolm Arnold) Channel Islands, Chris Clarke (Nick Dakin) Marshall Milton Keynes, Nigel Levine (Simon Duberley) Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow, Conrad Williams (Linford Christie) Kent, Luke Lennon-Ford (Rodger Walters) Birchfield
High jump Samson Oni (Trevor Llewellyn) Belgrave, Tom Parsons (Fuzz Ahmed) Birchfield
Pole vault Steve Lewis (Steve Rippon) Newham & Essex
Long jump Greg Rutherford (Dan Pfaff) Marshall Milton Keynes, Chris Tomlinson (Frank Attoh) Newham & Essex
Triple jump Phillips Idowu (Aston Moore) Belgrave Harriers
Shot Carl Myerscough (n/a) Blackpool Wyre & Fylde
Women
60m Joice Maduaka (Loren Seagrave) Woodford Green with Essex Ladies
800m Jenny Meadows (Trevor Painter) Wigan, Vicky Griffiths (Stan Roberts) Liverpool H
1500m Helen Clitheroe (Trevor Painter) Preston, Charlotte Best (George Gandy) Crawley
3,000m Gemma Turtle Gloucester, Barbara Parker (John Nuttall/Karen Harvey) City of Norwich
60m hurdles Gemma Bennett (Lloyd Cowan) Shaftesbury Barnet
4×400m Victoria Barr (Ayo Falola) Rugby & Northampton, Hayley Jones (Jared Deacon) Wigan, Dawn Hunt (Ayo Falola) Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow, Lee McConnell (Rodger Harkins) Shaftesbury Barnet, Perri Shakes-Drayton (Chris Zah) Victoria Park & Tower Hamlets, Kim Wall (Tony Lester) Basildon
High jump Vikki Hubbard (Graham Ravenscroft) Birchfield
Pole vault Kate Dennison (Steve Rippon) Sale
Pentathlon Jessica Ennis (Toni Minichiello) Sheffield
Holmes expects further Meadows success
• British 800m record holder tipped for World Indoor glory
• ‘Women’s middle-distance running stronger than ever’
Dame Kelly Holmes believes Jenny Meadows is certain to bring back a medal from the World Indoor Championships in Doha next month. The double Olympic gold medal winner says Meadows is on a winning trajectory, her confidence boosted after breaking Holmes’ seven-year-old 800m British indoor record at the Birmingham grand prix on Saturday.
“I will be surprised if she doesn’t come back from Doha with a medal, definitely,” said Holmes of the 28-year-old who only claimed her first ever medal – at junior or senior level – when she won bronze in the 800m at the World Championships last summer.
“Having got a medal last year will have given her a lot of confidence. Even hearing your name called out as ‘world bronze medallist’ when you stand on the starting line helps. It will make her believe that she is as good, if not better, than everyone else in the world. Once you get that confidence you believe in yourself more and are willing to fight and work out how you can be the best in every race.”
Meadows, who lists Holmes as one of her idols, appeared full of confidence on Saturday as she ran four laps of the track in 1min 59.11sec to take the British record and be presented with a cheque for $5,000 (£3,230) which she says she will put towards her coach’s expenses.
Holmes, whose crowning achievement came when she was 34, says she can empathise with the psychological process that Meadows is going through and remembers her own turning point.
“When I won my first ever medal – a European silver medal – I was totally shocked but then I thought, ‘Oh God, I can do it. I’m up there with them.’ I went to the Commonwealth Games soon after that, in 1994, and then I won two World Championship medals in 1995. So for me it was a way of starting to believe in myself. Once you start getting medals you raise your game. If you’ve got a silver, you want gold. It lifts you.”
Since retirement Holmes has dedicated much of her energies to improving women’s middle-distance running and, she says, the efforts are paying off. “Women’s middle-distance running has never been as strong in Britain as it is now. I think it’s great she broke my record. It’s great for the sport. Now the rest of the girls will be after it and will move the event on.”
In Doha next month Meadows will face a strong field with the Russians – Yevgeniya Zinurova and Mariya Savinova – both comfortably running under two minutes, although it seems unlikely that she will meet the current world champion, Caster Semenya, who is still facing controversy over a gender investigation. But with Meadows in flying form at number two in the world, Holmes is expecting her countrywoman – dubbed the “pocket rocket” – to excel.
“She is the right build for indoor running. She is small and thin. I didn’t do indoors that much but I benefited from being small. I could make the moves and just nip in when it matters, and Jenny can do that too. Jenny is more consistent now and stronger. She believes in herself and is not afraid to fight and challenge.”
Meadows smashes Holmes’ 800m record
• New record holder was inspired by Olympic champion
• Philipps Idowu finishes fourth in triple jump
Jenny Meadows is in “amazing” form ahead of the World Indoor Championships after she broke Kelly Holmes’s seven-year-old 800m British record at the Birmingham Grand Prix. The 27-year-old from Wigan ran four laps of the indoor track in 1:59.11 – 0.1sec faster than Holmes’s time.
“After today, I know I’m in amazing shape,” said Meadows, who won bronze – the first medal of her career – at the World Championships in Berlin last summer and is growing in confidence. “I try and tell myself, ‘you are a bronze medallist now’, but I’ve had so long now where I haven’t been on the podium, it’s still quite hard for me to get used to.”
Meadows led from early in the race and seemed to decide to go for the record time only towards the end of the first lap. “I had that discussion with my coach – do I try to win the race or go for a time? I kind of kicked myself because I probably wasted 150m here thinking, ’should I do it?’
“But then you look at a record from someone like Dame Kelly Holmes and you think I’ve got absolutely no right to even target that. Kelly didn’t run an awful lot indoors but it’s still a fantastic time so I’m very, very honoured and thrilled to get that time today.”
Meadows says Holmes’s successes were a huge influence on her own career. “When she did double gold in Athens I was still a 400m athlete and that winter I decided to change. She definitely became a role model to me.”
With just three weeks to go before the World Indoor Championships in Doha, Meadows feels in great shape to push for a medal. “There’s a lot more there. The Russians are flying, but I’ve put in a great performance here. If I don’t get on the podium it will have taken three very good girls to beat me.”
In the triple jump Britain’s indoor and outdoor world champion, Phillips Idowu, finished fourth. The former world champion Christian Olsson won with a world-leading distance of 17.32.
Aviva Grand Prix, Birmingham, England
Men’s results
National 400m 1 Chris Clarke (Gbr) 47.14secs, 2 Nigel Levine (Gbr) 47.23, 3 Nick Leavey (Gbr) 47.71, 4 Dale Garland (Gbr) 48.03, 5 Tom Druce (Gbr) 48.15, 6 Richard Strachan (Gbr) 49.38,
60m 1 Michael Rodgers (USA) 6.57secs, 2 Daniel Bailey (Ant) 6.59, 3 Nick Smith (Gbr) 6.6, 4 Mark Lewis-Francis (Gbr) 6.61, 5 Harry Aikines Aryeetey (Gbr) 6.62, 6 Mark Jelks (USA) 6.68, 7 Craig Pickering (Gbr) 6.71, 8 Nesta Carter (Jam) 6.77
400m 1 David Gillick (Irl) 45.52secs, 2 Rabah Yousif (Sud) 46.24, 3 Richard Buck (Gbr) 46.52, 4 Ricardo Chambers (Jam) 46.68, 5 Nery Brenes (Crc) 46.91, 6 Jamaal Torrance (USA) 46.91
800m 1 Marcin Lewandowski (Pol) 1min 47.50secs, 2 Richard Kiplagat (Ken) 1:47.55, 3 Andrew Osagie (Gbr) 1:47.71, 4 Lukas Rifeser (Ita) 1:47.94, 5 Ed Aston (Gbr) 1:48.24, 6 Paul Bradshaw (Gbr) 1:48.99, 7 Abraham Chepkirwok (Uga) 1:50.33 DNF: Ben Green (Gbr)
1500m 1 Deresse Mekonnen (Eth) 3mins 33.10secs, 2 Augustine Choge (Ken) 3:33.74, 3 Gideon Gathimba (Ken) 3:35.40, 4 Bernard Lagat (USA) 3:35.49, 5 Nick Willis (Nzl) 3:35.80, 6 Bethwel Birgen (Ken) 3:39.92, 7 Tim Bayley (Gbr) 3:40.16, 8 Bruno Albuquerque (Por) 3:41.38, 9 Peter Van Der Westhuizen (Rsa) 3:42.38, 10 Colin Mccourt (Gbr) 3:46.90 DNF: Cornelius Chirchir (Ken), David Krummenacker (USA), Alvaro Rodriguez (Spa)
3000m 1 Sammy Mutahi (Ken) 7mins 44.58secs, 2 Dejene Gebremeskel (Eth) 7:45.42, 3 Saif Saaeed Shaheen (Qat) 7:46.97, 4 Brimin Kipruto (Ken) 7:47.61, 5 Andy Vernon (Gbr) 7:49.84, 6 Scott Overall (Gbr) 7:50.66, 7 Shedrack Korir (Ken) 8:00.05 DNS: David Krummenacker (USA), Tom Lancashire (Gbr)
60m hurdles 1 Dayron Robles (Cub) 7.44m, 2 Petr Svoboda (Cze) 7.57, 3 Ladji Doucoure (Fra) 7.65, 4 Gregory Sedoc (Ned) 7.66, 5 Dayron Capetillo (Cub) 7.68, 6 Garfield Darien (Fra) 7.69, 7 Tyrone Akins (USA) 7.69, 8 Dwight Thomas (Jam) 7.87
High jump 1 Yaroslav Rybakov (Rus) 2.31m, 2 Samson Oni (Gbr) 2.28, 3 Tom Parsons (Gbr) 2.28, 4 Peter Horak (Svk) 2.24, 5 Adam Scarr (Gbr) 2.2, 6 Sylwester Bednarek (Pol) 2.2, 7 Javier Bermejo (Spa) 2.15, 7 Filippo Campioli (Ita) 2.15 NM: Robbie Grabarz (Gbr)
Triple jump 1 Christian Olsson (Swe) 17.32m, 2 Yoandri Betanzos (Cub) 17.3, 3 David Girat (Cub) 17.26, 4 Phillips Idowu (Gbr) 17.25, 5 Alexis Copello (Cub) 17.18, 6 Jadel Gregorio (Bra) 16.92, 7 Tosin Oke (Ngr) 16.89, 8 Brandon Roulhac (USA) 16.13
Women’s results
One mile 1 Gelete Burka (Eth) 4mins 23.53secs, 2 Kakedan Gezahegn (Eth) 4:24.10, 3 Maryam Jamal (Brn) 4:24.71, 4 Sylwia Ejdys (Pol) 4:27.75, 5 Ingvill Makestad (Nor) 4:28.49, 6 Wioletta Frankiewicz (Pol) 4:29.27, 7 Helen Clitheroe (Gbr) 4:29.46, 8 Hilary Stellingwerff (Can) 4:30.89, 9 Charlotte Best (Gbr) 4:32.29 DNF: Karen Shinkins (Irl)
Two miles 1 Tirunesh Dibaba (Eth) 9mins 12.23secs, 2 Vivian Cheruiyot (Ken) 9:12.35, 3 Sentayehu Ejigu (Eth) 9:12.68, 4 Jessica Augusto (Por) 9:19.39, 5 Lidia Chojecka (Pol) 9:31.68, 6 Barbara Parker (Gbr) 9:35.83, 7 Renata Plis (Pol) 9:36.89, 8 Adrienne Herzog (Ned) 9:37.75, 9 Sara Moreira (Por) 9:47.99, 10 Ulrika Johansson (Swe) 9:48.85 DNF: Kelly Mcneice (Irl)
60m 1 Carmelita Jeter (USA) 7.06secs, 2 Laverne Jones (ISV) 7.06, 3 Chandra Sturrup (Bah) 7.2, 4 Gloria Asumnu (USA) 7.32, 5 Angela Williams (USA) 7.33, 6 Me’lisa Barber (USA) 7.34, 7 Bernice Wilson (Gbr) 7.36, 8 Joice Maduaka (Gbr) 7.48
400m 1 Novlene Williams (Jam) 52.03secs, 2 Christine Amertil (Bah) 52.43, 3 Ebonie Floyd (USA) 53.16, 4 Kim Wall (Gbr) 53.35, 5 Zuzana Bergrova (Cze) 53.39, 6 Dawn Hunt (Gbr) 54.53
800m 1 Jenny Meadows (Gbr) 1min 59.11secs, 2 Yuliya Krevsun (Ukr) 2:00.36, 3 Vicky Griffiths (Gbr) 2:02.44, 4 Daniela Reina (Ita) 2:03.67, 5 Lenka Masna (Cze) 2:04.61, 6 Danielle Christmas (Gbr) 2:05.92 DNF: Rebecca Sweeney (Gbr)
60m hurdles 1 Danielle Carruthers (USA) 7.95m, 2 Anay Tejeda (Cub) 7.96, 3 Gemma Bennett (Gbr) 8.13, 4 Seun Adigun (Ngr) 8.13, 5 Miriam Cupakova (Svk) 8.35, 6 Zara Hohn (Gbr1) 8.36, 7 Louise Hazel (Gbr) 8.42
Long jump 1 Naide Gomes (Por) 6.69m, 2 Yargelis Savigne (Cub) 6.55, 3 Keila Costa (Bra) 6.54, 4 Brianna Glenn (USA) 6.38, 5 Kelly Proper (Irl) 6.33, 6 Jana Veldakova (Svk) 6.24, 7 Amy Woodman (Gbr) 6.18, 8 Cristina Sandu (Rou) 6.12, 9 Louise Hazel (Gbr) 5.75
Pole vault 1 Fabiana Murer (Bra) 4.82m, 2 Svetlana Feofanova (Rus) 4.72, 3 Anna Rogowska (Pol) 4.72, 4 Silke Spiegelburg (Ger) 4.6, 5 Kate Dennison (Gbr) 4.6, 6 Monica Pyrek (Pol) 4.6, 7 Jirina Ptacnikova (Cze) 4.5, 8 Cathrine Larsasen (Nor) 4.3, 9 Henrietta Paxton (Gbr) 4.15
Jenny Meadows smashes Kelly Holmes 800m record
• 28 year-old breaks seven year indoor record
• Wigan athlete records a time of 1:59.11
Jenny Meadows has smashed Kelly Holmes seven year old 800m indoor record at the Birmingham grand prix.
The 28 year-old from Wigan recorded a time of 1:59.11, shaving one hundreth of a second off the record Holmes set in Ghent in 2003.
It was an important result for the 5ft 1 inch ‘pocket rocket’ ahead of the World Indoor Championships in March.
Meadows goes to Doha looking to improve on last year’s bronze medal in the outdoor World Championship final where the British runner finished behind Caster Semenya, the controversial South african athlete.
Craig Pickering upstaged by Nick Smith in the 60m sprint in Birmingham
• Nick Smith finished third behind Michael Rodgers
• In form Craig Pickering finishes adrift in seventh
Nick Smith overshadowed his better known British sprinting rivals in the men’s 60m in Birmingham by finishing third behind American Michael Rogers.
Rodgers won in 6.57 sec while Smith broke his own Scottish record by running a personal best of 6.60 sec to finish ahead of Mark Lewis-Francis in fourth and Harry Aikines Aryeetey in fifth.
After a season of impressive victories 23 year old Craig Pickering could only finish a disappointing seventh.
Earlier at the NIA American Carmelita Jeter edged a photo finish from the Virgin Island’s Laverne Jones in 7.06 sec.
Later in the afternoon World Champion Phillips Idowu takes on former Olympic and European champion Christian Olsson in the men’s triple jump competition, while Jenny Meadows runs in the women’s 800m race with Kelly Holmes British record in her sights.
Carmelita Jeter bears the burden of being the fastest woman alive
The Los Angelese-born sprinter reveals how running the second-fastest 100 metres brought more suspicion than praise
The fastest woman alive stirs four sachets of sugar into her breakfast grits and dips three hash browns into a pool of ketchup: a veritable champion’s breakfast. At 30 years old Carmelita Jeter has yet to win a world title or an Olympic medal, but when she twice dipped into 10.6-seconds territory running the 100m in September her name became famous the world over.
Last year the Los Angeles-born sprinter ran 10.67sec in Thessaloniki, and then 10.64 in Shanghai – the latter making her the second-fastest female 100m sprinter in history, behind Florence Griffith- Joyner, who ran 10.49 before the introduction of mandatory random drug testing.
That day in China, Jeter stole some of Usain Bolt’s limelight, something no female sprinter has managed since his world-record-breaking performances. It also made up for finishing third at the World Championships last summer.
Jeter, “the Jet”, smiles at the memory. This afternoon, at the Birmingham Grand Prix, she hopes to add a fast 60m indoor time to her CV; the achievements make up for years of injury. “Oh gosh that was the worst,” she says, rolling her eyes. “It made me want to quit. I pulled my hamstring after the 2004 Olympic trials and I was literally laying on the track crying.” A year of rehabilitation followed – “I was having deep-tissue massage twice a week for months” – but it was not until 2007 that Jeter regained her form, winning bronze in the 100m at the World Championships.
Even then the road has not been smooth. “I ran so well in 2007 I kind of got a big head, you know? My 2008 was not good. I was thinking I was guaranteed to make the US [Olympic] team and then I didn’t and I got a reality check. But that was the best thing that could have happened to me. I came back in 2009 and I was just so hungry, I never wanted to be beaten again. I never wanted to have that feeling of being left behind again. That hurt.”
Jeter changed coach at the end of 2008 and began working with John Smith, best known for coaching Maurice Greene to multiple world and Olympic titles. It was Smith who, she says, “literally ripped my race apart and put it back together again”. At the beginning of last season he predicted Jeter would run 10.6, when her previous best was 10.97. She did not believe him. “I was just looking at him like, ‘What is he talking about?’ But I went to Shanghai and ran 10.64 and I was like, ‘OK this guy knows what he’s talking about.’”
Jeter speaks with a southern drawl – “Everybody is like, ‘Where are you from?’ I’m like, LA!” she laughs. It’s not the only assumption made about her. Being the fastest woman alive in a discipline so tainted by drugs invites a measure of scepticism and Jeter coolly pre-empts the inevitable questions about doping. “I got so much negative press after I ran 10.64 like, ‘Is she clean? Is she this? Is she that?’”. She is realistic enough to concede that running faster than the convicted drugs cheat Marion Jones and closest to Griffith-Joyner is going to raise eyebrows – perhaps even among fellow competitors. After the Beijing Olympics the Jamaican Veronica Campbell said even 10.6 was out of reach. “How many have even run 10.6 in the past 20 years since Flo Jo set that record?” she asked. The answer, before Jeter did so, was only the disgraced Jones.
“You know that’s honestly the first thing I heard after that race,” says Jeter now. “It was like ‘Well she’s faster than Marion and a little slower than Flo-Jo, hmm.’” She purses her lips. “I look at it like this, I surround myself with people that care about me. They know I’m going to practise every day, that I’m in the weight room every day, that I’m working my butt off. The other people I don’t have time for. You can whisper under your breath all you want but I don’t give an s-h-i-t. It’s unfortunate that I work this hard and I don’t get the credit I should get but that’s life.”
Being thick-skinned is her only option. In the online forums, speculation over her improved performances – prior to 2008 she had not run below 11 seconds – is rife, with bloggers comparing before and after photos of her musculature. The comments are hurtful. “My grandmother called me one day, crying. She watched one of my races on YouTube and she read the comments underneath it. She said, ‘Why are these people calling you this and that?’ I was like, ‘Grandma stop reading the comments please’. She was very emotional, she was a mess. I had to calm her down. That day was the worst, she had me crying.”
But from her family she gains her strength. “My dad always says when people stop talking about you that’s when you’re not doing nothing. In 2008 I wasn’t running good and there was nobody talking about me. When you start running well everybody will talk about you. Good and bad your name’s in somebody’s mouth, so I’m like, ‘Hey, keep my name in your mouth!’ When you stop talking about me that’s when I’m going to worry.
“I can’t be upset about those questionsbecause we have a person who everybody adored for years and then she got caught in a scandal [Jones]. Then we have another person who everybody adored but there’s a lot of, ‘he said, she said’ about them [Flo-Jo]. I mean I understand that I’m in the middle of them. But there’s nothing I can do about it. What do you want me to do? Run slow?”
She laughs. As she lines up for the 60m sprint in Birmingham this afternoon, nothing will be further from her mind. There is still the US team to make for next month’s World Indoor Championships, and then the fastest indoor performer of the year to beat in the Virgin Islands’ LaVerne Jones-Ferrette. She scrapes up the last of her grits and smiles. “These next four years are going to be big for me,” she says. “I can just feel it.”
Sprain forces Ennis to miss grand prix
• Scan reveals foot injury has not healed properly
• World Indoor Championships are top priority
Britain’s world champion heptathlete, Jessica Ennis, has withdrawn from the Birmingham Grand Prix this weekend after new scans on her right foot revealed it still needs time to heal.
The 24-year-old discovered a slight ligament sprain in her foot last month after a scintillating performance in the 60 metres hurdles at the Glasgow Grand Prix. Subsequently Ennis and her coach, Tony Minichiello, made the decision to withdraw from last weekend’s UK and World Indoor Trials as a precaution. Now she will miss out on Birmingham, too – where she had been expected to compete in the 60m hurdles and the long jump.
This latest disappointment, three weeks out from the World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar, has left the Sheffield star feeling frustrated. “I am, of course, disappointed at missing the opportunity to compete in Birmingham,” Ennis said, “but I know that being cautious is the best course of action.
“The scans a week ago showed a slight ligament sprain and the advice was to rest the foot and take it day by day. New scans of my foot today show it has healed a lot but, with the World Indoors only a few weeks away, the advice from the UKA medical team is to give it a little more time to completely heal and focus on the World Indoors.”
She added: “I am really happy with the way my foot is healing, training has not stopped and Tony, my coach, will gradually increase the intensity with all the focus on Doha.”
After missing the Beijing Olympics in 2008 through an injury to her left ankle – the damage of which was done during her indoor season that year – the news of this latest development has, understandably, been difficult to take. At the UK Trials last weekend Minichiello explained how the ligament sprain had been little more than a niggle in training but, with the pair of them now more conscientious than ever about injuries, they had decided to get a medical opinion. The scan instantly revealed a problem. Though minor, it is a tough pill for Ennis to swallow, especially having started the year so brightly. January’s European Women’s Athlete of the Month had set eight personal bests in the first three weeks of the indoor season, and taken the scalp of the current world indoor hurdles champion, Lolo Jones, while setting a new British record over 60m.
For Ennis the competition in Doha will be just as tough, with Olympic champion Nataliya Dobrynska having confirmed her participation in what will be her third ever world indoor final. Ennis defeated Dobrynska to take the world title in Berlin last summer and will hope for a repeat performance as the pair compete for the pentathlon title.
Ennis pulls out of Birmingham grand prix
• Heptathlete targets Doha world indoors for return
• World champion’s foot needs more time to heal
The world heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis has withdrawn from Saturday’s Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham due to her foot injury.
Ennis, who also missed the World Indoor Championship trials in her home city of Sheffield last weekend, wants more time for the injury to heal completely. She still plans to compete in the World Indoors in Doha, in three weeks’ time.
Ennis, 24, said: “The scans a week ago showed a slight ligament sprain and the advice was to rest the foot and take it day by day.
“New scans of my foot today show it has healed a lot, but with the World Indoors only a few weeks away the advice from the UK Athletics medical team is to give it a little more time to completely heal and focus on the World Indoors.”
She added: “I am of course disappointed at missing the opportunity to compete in Birmingham, but know being cautious is the best course of action. I am really happy with the way my foot is healing, training has not stopped and Toni, my coach, will gradually increase the intensity with all the focus on Doha.”
Ovett and Coe film hits the ground running
New movie about the great 80s rivalry between Olympic champions Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe aims to be in cinemas in time for the 2012 Games in London
The last time a British film about a celebrated Olympic track rivalry hit the headlines around the world was in 1982, when Chariots of Fire writer Colin Welland made his famous “The British are coming!” speech in celebration of the film’s four Academy Awards. Now a new homegrown effort hopes to repeat that feat by focusing on the famous competition between Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe at the Moscow and LA Olympics.
As yet, the movie has no title and no director, but it does have a writer. LA-based Brit William Davies, who penned the animated tale Flushed Away, the Rowan Atkinson spy spoof Johnny English and the Arnold Schwarzenegger-Danny Devito 80s comedy Twins, has been hired to work on the screenplay.
“Will is a fantastic writer who is a keen sportsman,” said Joanna Anderson of AL Films, which has teamed up with BBC Films for the project. “He has been fired up by this story which means so much to a UK audience and is the British Olympic story which also gripped the US.”
Coe and Ovett were fierce rivals from their junior days, but rarely raced each other at the pinnacle of their respective careers. Prior to the Moscow Olympics in 1980, they were recognised as two of the fastest middle distance runners in the world, with Coe favouring the 800m and Ovett the 1,500m. Yet on the day, it was Ovett who took gold in the shorter distance, while Coe triumphed over the longer race. Four years later in Los Angeles, Coe took silver in the 800m and retained his 1,500m gold. Ovett, crippled by respiratory problems, was unable to offer serious competition.
The screenplay is based on sports journalist Pat Butcher’s book The Perfect Distance – Ovett and Coe: The Record-Breaking Rivalry and is said to focus on the contrasting personalities of the two great runners. “You were either an Ovett person or a Coe person,” said Vicky Licorish of AL Films. “And that’s what makes it such a great character piece as well.” The aim is for the film to arrive on the big screen in time for the 2012 Olympics.
“This is a gem of a story, about British sporting life and more,” said Christine Langan, creative director of BBC Films. “Will’s take on it is very exhilarating and BBC Films is excited to be developing it with him and AL Films.”
Meadows looks past Semenya to Doha
• Meadows wins sixth UK title at trials for world indoors
• Chambers snubbed despite fastest 60m time this year
Jenny Meadows said she is relieved that she is unlikely to compete against the world champion Caster Semenya at next month’s World Indoor Championships in Doha. The South African is suspended from competition pending the results of a gender inquiry by the global governing body of the sport.
“If I run against her, I run against her; if I don’t, then great because 1min 55sec [Semenya's gold medal-winning time in the 800m] was just absolutely awesome and I’m sure she can better that,” said Meadows, who won her sixth British title at the UK Trials here today.
“I read that she wasn’t doing the South African season. The jury’s still out. I’ve tried to stop reading it because it changes every week. I’ve just got to concentrate on the Russians and the girls I’m facing next week and see who is doing what before Doha.” Meadows was in great shape as she recorded a time of 2:00.91, the third fastest in the world this year. “I’d be gutted if I didn’t medal [in Doha],” she said. “I want to get on that podium.”
But of the British athletes on show it was Dwain Chambers, now 31, who will remain in the memory. By winning the 60m comfortably in 6.50sec yesterday – the fastest time in the world this year – his was the only performance to top the world rankings. It was a shame he was not given due reward.
Instead a cheque for $1,500 (£959) for the performance of the day was presented to the 36-year-old Joice Maduaka for winning the women’s 60m. How two former athletes reasoned that Maduaka’s run of 7.29sec – a time that would not even put her in the top 20 in the world this year – should be rewarded rather than Chambers’ is hard to fathom.
Presumably Chambers is still regarded as a promotional liability. There was scarcely a mention of him in the events programme and he was left out of the ‘Ten to Watch’ feature. One thing is certain: Chambers could have done with the money. He is still paying back a sum in the region of £100,000 to the global governing body and barred from competing at the biggest grand prix meetings. But he says his focus is primarily on the races.
“I can’t focus my mind on money, that’s the wrong motivation for me. I just have to do the best I can and compete where I can and hopefully the races where I can compete give me the opportunity to earn some money. I have to let my legs do the talking and hopefully that will open some doors.” Should he win in Doha the winners’ cheque of £38,000 will clearly be welcome.