Chambers returns to target European qualification at age of 40
Dwain Chambers is coming out of retirement two months short of his 41st birthday in a bid to resurrect his international career by competing at this weekend’s British Indoor Championships.
Chambers, who last represented his country five years ago, officially retired from competition in the summer of 2017 but has decided to try to qualify for the British team at next month’s European Indoor Championships in Glasgow.
Despite being more than twice the age of some of his rivals, the former world indoor 60metre champion believes he is in as good a shape as at any point in his career and stands a fighting chance of succeeding.
Chambers clocked 6.70sec in a low-key meet in December – his first competitive race for almost a year and a half – to put him just outside the top 10 in this season’s British 60m rankings.
With a personal best 6.42sec – which places him fifth in the all-time global lists – and the absence of British No 1 Reece Prescod, it is conceivable that Chambers could improve sufficiently to win a medal in Birmingham this weekend.
It would be a remarkable comeback for a man who has lived in the shadow of a doping of ban for much of his career since he was kicked out of the sport for two years after testing positive for steroids in 2004. He returned to toplevel athletics after failed attempts to break into American football and rugby league, and enjoyed considerable success indoors in his later years when winning three world and two European medals. He has focused on running a sports training company since.
European places are automatically assured to those who finish inside the top two at the British trials and secure the qualification standard of 6.60sec.
With most of Britain’s centrally funded sprinters opting against competing, Chambers’ main rivals include double European 60m champion Richard Kilty, Nethaneel Mitchell-blake and Ojie Edoburun.