English sprint trio set to shine

Ten years ago Linford Christie silenced those Americans who had previously regarded British sprinters with the contempt they otherwise reserved for English jazz, coffee and heavyweight boxers.

Christie powered to victory over 100 metres at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and was indisputably the world's best over that distance for the following two years.

A decade later the coffee has certainly improved, Lennox Lewis is heavyweight champion of the world and a trio of swift young Britons are threatening to emulate Christie on the track.

Dwain Chambers, Mark Lewis-Francis and Darren Campbell will take centre stage for the England team at this month's Commonwealth Games in Manchester after some sizzling performances during a rain-drenched first half of the European athletics season.

"In a very short space of time I can see Britain boasting the top sprinters in the world," said Canadian Donovan Bailey, the 1996 Olympic 100 metres champion. "They are all young enough and I like their style. They train hard, run fast but also have a good time. They think that athletics is fun.

"America has such strength and depth and produced so many great runners for so long. But that is what the British are doing now. The British public should be excited. Britain will win gold in the 100 metres at the Athens Olympics."

Chambers, in particular, is the man of the moment. He defeated world champion and world record holder Maurice Greene in Oslo and again two days later in Sheffield after winning the English Commonwealth trials by 0.04 of a second ahead of Lewis-Francis, the world's fastest teenager.

With Chambers opting to miss the 100 metres at last weekend's European championship trials, Lewis-Francis finished first in 10.06. Campbell, the European champion over 100 metres four years ago in Budapest, finished second in both the 100 and 200.

"This has been a nightmare two years," said Campbell. "People kept writing me off but I stuck at it and now I'm back."

EXCITEMENT

Former world 200 metres silver medallist John Regis, who is now Chambers's agent, believes his rivalry with Lewis-Francis could match the excitement of the Sebastian Coe-Steve Ovett years.

The two Britons, although they managed to avoid each other outside major championships, regularly swapped the world 1,500 metres record during their peak years a generation ago.

"This is the first time we've had two British sprinters pushing each other like this," said Regis. "Mark is world class and if it wasn't Dwain beating Maurice it would be Mark. At the moment, they're just trying to be the best sprinter in Britain but that could soon mean the world."

In his regular column in The Observer newspaper, Regis said he had thought for some time that Chambers was as physically strong as Greene.

"There are two things that have contributed to a new Chambers this summer," Regis wrote. "Mentally he is a lot stronger. Technically, too, he is much improved this year. One of the ways he has managed to achieve this, and which may surprise a lot of casual observers, is by improving his upper-body strength."

Lewis-Francis won his English schools title in 1997 at the age of 15. Three years later he won gold in the 100 metres at the world junior championships in Santiago and took gold again at the European junior championships in the following year. Last year he was a semi-finalist at the world championships in Edmonton after clocking a wind-assisted 9.97 seconds in the heats.

"Mark is only just developing his weight training," said Graham Knight, UK Athletics technical director for the sprints. "He's a big boy but he needs more power. That, and a slice of good fortune, will help him to take on the Americans. He has phenomenal ability but, more importantly, he wasn't over-trained at an early age."

COE CAUTION

Campbell, a silver medallist over 200 metres at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, was selected for the English Commonwealth Games squad last month subject to proving his fitness at the trials.

"The Commonwealth Games is my main priority," he said. "I'm a Manchester United fan and it will be great to christen the track at Manchester City's new stadium. To win there would be fantastic."

A note of caution among the sudden surge of optimism has been sounded by Coe, the only man to successfully defend the Olympic 1,500 metres title.

"We're very good at winning the warm-up and we can certainly hold our own in the warm-down," Coe wrote in the Daily Telegraph. "But when it comes to winning when it really matters, we're found wanting."

After instancing the English soccer, cricket and rugby union teams plus Wimbledon semi-finalist Tim Henman, Coe described Chambers as the "not so new kid on the sprinting block" whose best performance to date in a major championship was a bronze medal behind Greene at the 1999 Seville world championships.

"If Chambers wins the Commonwealth and European titles this year, it will not have been about chance," Coe said. "But he will have only begun to win the warm-up."