Kelly Holmes triumphant after her 1:59.39 win - Uk Trials (© Getty Images)
Olympic Heptathlon champion Denise Lewis had mixed fortunes, ‘unknown’ Ohuougu produced a 400m shock, Holmes, Tullett and Rawlinson produced assured wins, while the home lads beat off a newly imported hope in the men’s 400m, on the second day of the Norwich Union Olympic Trials and AAA Championships which concluded yesterday (11 July).
The UK Olympic Trials lived up to their name on Sunday, as athletes passed or failed the test of Olympic qualification, seeing their Athens dreams raised or dashed, and in some cases watching them burst into most unexpected life before a capacity crowd at the Manchester Regional Arena.
Ohurougu – a name to remember – 50.98!
Twenty year-old Christine Ohurougu started this season as a virtual unknown women’s 400m runner with a best of 54.21, set when winning an unexpected bronze medal at the European Junior championships last summer. With that time, and in a highly competitive event, she wasn’t in anyone’s Olympic reckonings, least of all her own.
Then, at the Loughborough International meeting more than a month ago she lowered her pb by more than two seconds to 52.20. No less an authority than Stan Greenberg, former athletics statistician to the BBC, was impressed, telling the small gathering of journalists present to watch out for her . . . in the future. Even he can’t have thought that future would come so quickly.
This afternoon she smashed her pb again, swiping another second and more from her best time, and dipping under 51 for the first time. Running in lane four and showing immaculate form, she overhauled the British number one Lee McConnell in the lane outside her, clocking 50.98, well inside the Olympic qualifying time of 51.50 and among the top 20 times in the world in 2004.
Amazingly, she hadn’t even checked to see what the qualifying time was before she raced, and didn’t realise she had run herself onto the Athens team until she was told by a TV interviewer while she was half way down the back straight on a lap of honour.
“That was the biggest shock of my life,” she said, unable to stop her face breaking into the widest grin in the world. “I am ecstatic. I never dreamed I would make the Olympic team.
“I really didn’t know what the A standard was but I was thinking if I finished in the top four it would be good enough for a relay spot. It was only when I was on my lap of honour that I realised I had got the time.
“The thought of competing in the Olympics – wow that’s scary. I don’t know what I’m going to do between now and Athens, I guess I will have to go and do a lot of training.”
McConnell finished second in 51.29, guaranteeing her Olympic place. Donna Fraser, who finished fourth in Sydney, is the only other British athlete with the qualifying time, but she pulled out of the final suffering from a viral infection.
Douglas grabs Olympic dream
Ohuruogu’s may have been the most unexpected and heart-warming tale, but there were several dramatic stories throughout this second breezy day at the AAA championships. Like Ohuruogu, triple jumper Nathan Douglas must hardly have dared dream of the Olympic Games when he arrived in Manchester. His personal best stood at 16.49m, ranking him fourth in the UK and some 50 centimetres outside the Olympic qualifying time.
After the withdrawal of favourite Phillips Odowu with a hamstring injury, and with the non-appearance of Larry Achike, Douglas seized his chance. He set a new PB of 16.56m in the fourth round to lead the competition, one centimetre beyond the Olympic B standard, and then, on the very last jump, leapt out to 16.95m, hitting the Olympic A mark exactly.
“It’s a dream come true,” he said. “I am living a dream right now, really living a dream. I feel like I’m asleep. I was hoping for a ticket to Athens, it was a possibility, but I didn’t really think it would happen in my wildest dream.”
Johnson stamps authority with 6.72 leap
The dream is alive for another British jumper too. Long jumper Jade Johnson was fourth at the Paris world championships last summer and was European silver medallist in 2002, but before today she still had not qualified for the Olympic Games. Her 2004 best stood at 6.49m more than 20cm short of the A standard of 6.70m, and with heptathlete Kelly Sotherton ahead of her with 6.68m, her Olympic hopes were fading. She had to win and come within centimetres of her best to claim a place. What’s more, Sotherton was here to beat her.
Johnson stamped her authority on the competition from the start, leaping 6.72m on her first attempt, just one centimetre below her legal best. That proved to be enough to win. Sotherton was second with 6.61m. “I always seem to leave things to the last minute,” said Johnson. “It has been hard and it has been a struggle. Now I know I can just focus on (the Games).”
Lewis – ups and downs
Sotherton’s training partner, Denise Lewis, was also in the long jump – her second event of the day and fourth of the weekend. But Lewis could only produce a disappointing 5.97m in what is usually a strong event for the Olympic Heptathlon champion. She then left the competition after three rounds, limping rather ominously from the arena. Earlier she had produced a respectable shot put of 15.09m, finishing fifth in a competition won by Julie Dunkley in a season’s best 16.03m. Sotherton produced a pb of 13.68m for eighth place.
Benjamin wins 400m - American import Davis falters but may still get an Athens ticket
Lewis’s Olympic hopes may have been dented rather than dashed, but those of Britain’s new 400m hope Malachi Davis faltered badly. Davis arrived in the UK for the first time on Friday with a two-day old British passport, courtesy of his British mother, and the aim of snatching one of the two automatic Olympic places from Britain’s one and two, Daniel Caines and Tom Benjamin.
But the Californian-come-Brit foundered badly in the home straight and finished fifth in 46.47. Benjamin took the victory in 45.58 with Caines second in 45.88. Sean Baldock, who came third in 46.24, doesn’t have the qualifying time. Davis does, but the selectors may well give Baldock a chance to beat Davis’s best of 45.52 before announcing their third pick for the one lap race.
No double for East
Michael East foundered too. His hopes of an Olympic double ended when he could finish only fifth in the men’s 800m in 1:49.79. The Commonwealth 1500m champion will still compete in the longer race in Athens but had hoped to be the first Briton since Steve Cram and Peter Elliott in 1988 to enter both.
“In order to be a world class 1500m runner you have to be a world class 800m runner too, and that was not a world class performance today,” he admitted. “I have been turned over by domestic athletes.” The race was won by a delighted Sam Ellis in 1:49.19.
Holmes and Tullett show confidence
Things went better for Britain’s major hopes in the women’s middle distances. World silver medallist Kelly Holmes cruised to victory in the 800m in 1:59.39, less than a second outside her best of the year. Holmes left the world indoor bronze medallist Jo Fenn struggling in her wake over the last 200m, although Fenn held on for second in 2:01.28.
“800m isn’t my number one distance and so I hope this sort of running will help the 1500m,” said Holmes. “I want a medal in Athens and this sort of victory will boost my confidence.”
The 1500m here went to World bronze medallist Hayley Tullett in a comfortable 4:07.24. She dragged the impressive 20 year-old Lisa Dobriskey to second place and a pb of 4:08.18. “I am not where I wanted to be at this time of the year,” said Tullett, referring to early season “hiccups”. “But I still have six weeks to go to get there.”
Rawlinson takes comfortable win
Like Tullett, Chris Rawlinson already had the qualifying time and was sure of his place in the team. He also had a comfortable victory here. Indeed, the 400m hurdler, ranked third in the world this year, hardly had to break sweat to win his sixth AAAs title in 50.04. “I knew it was going to be a weekend of just qualifying rather than doing anything spectacular,” he said. “It wasn’t a day for heroics, just getting the job done.”
Lambert and Malcolm win Athens tickets
Others to “get the job done” included Chris Lambert and Christian Malcolm who finished first and second respectively in the men’s 200m, clocking 20.94 and 21.09 and booking their places on the Athens start line. Their task was made easier by the withdrawal of Darren Campbell. The Olympic silver medallist ran in the heats but pulled out of the final because he had bruised two of his ribs when falling at the end of the 100m final on Saturday.
Campbell – injury doubt
Campbell must wait and see if the selectors will pick him for the longer sprint as well the dash. Dwayne Grant, who finished third in 21.27, beat the qualifying time last year. Julian Golding, the fastest man in the field this year with 20.41, finished a disappointing fifth, one place behind former world indoor champion Marlon Devonish.
“I was advised by doctors not to run the final,” explained Campbell. “But I believe I have proved myself over the distance.”
For others there’s still work to do. Joice Maduaka won the women’s 200m, in a season’s best 23.16, but she’s still needs to improve by two tenths to qualify for the Games.
Backley still off top form
And Steve Backley won the men’s javelin, exceeding 80 metres for the first time this year, but still 35cm short of the Olympic A standard qualifying mark. Backley’s winning throw of 81.25m was a season’s best for him, and he is the only Briton beyond the B mark, but it’s still way down on his usual standards.
“That is not really a very good reflection of my true potential,” he said. “Eighty one metres is not what I am all about.”
The 35 year-old three-time medallist must hope he can find his form in the next month if his Olympic swansong is not to end on a rather flat note. Christine Ohurougu’s Olympic story, on the other hand, has only just begun, and she is already hitting the high notes.
Matthew Brown for the IAAF
