BRIT BLITZ!
Never before have so many UK sprinters broken the 10-second barrier for the 100 metres. It’s a...
THE man considered on form to be the fastest in Britain was asked this week about the rumours of peace among this country’s best sprinters. His response was to laugh.
‘It’s more than that,’ CJ Ujah says. ‘We actually like each other. Really, that’s no lie.’
It’s a peculiar concept in light of the battles that have raged between Britain’s quickest men in recent years, the most glaring episode of which was the fabled headlock of 2014.
That was when the lid blew off on the simmering dispute between the two elite training groups sharing Loughborough’s track and James Ellington and James Dasaolu ended up having a grapple.
A year later, Richard Kilty and Ellington stood a few yards from Ujah and publicly blamed his inclusion for another botched 4x100m relay at the 2015 World Championships.
But that was then. One of two surprises going into this weekend’s British track trials in Birmingham, which will determine the sprint team for August’s World Championships, is that the current group all get on, despite half of the personnel remaining the same. The other surprise is that the harmony exists at a time when the battle for selection has never been so intense.
On a statistical level, Britain has never known such an era, with five of their sprinters having run sub-10 seconds for the 100m and three having gone under 20 for 200m. There is no outlier like Linford Christie, but the collective strength of the group has never been greater.
In the last days of Usain Bolt, they cannot realistically be considered a golden generation, or even silver, but the components of the group are confident it can be a bronze age, with their belief that medals are within reach in both individual and relay events.
‘I have never known a group like this one for sheer numbers,’ Harry Aikines-Aryeetey said. ‘I am 10.15sec for the 100m at the moment and only eighth in the country. That is mad.’
He added: ‘You go back to Christian Malcolm, Darren Campbell, Marlon Devonish, Mark Lewis- Francis, Dwain (Chambers), Jason Gardener — they were very talented and all had their moments. But I don’t think there was ever a time when they were firing all at once.’
In the context of the 100m, the depth is unprecedented. Dasaolu ranks quickest with a personal best of 9.91sec, albeit one set four years ago, while Ujah is a 9.96sec runner who won the Rome Diamond League and beat Canadian Andre De Grasse — who won the 100m bronze at the Rio Olympics — in Eugene in May.
JOEL FEAR On ran 9.96sec last year and Adam Gemili is just 0.01sec behind. nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, 23, has also gone under 10sec, though will skip the 100m to focus on the 200m, while Aikines-Aryeetey, Kilty, the European indoor champion, and Ojie Edoburun have all gone sub-10 with illegal tailwinds. Reece Prescod is on the cusp of going through 10 seconds.
Like the 200m tomorrow, only the top two in today’s 100m final at the trials will get an automatic place at the Worlds. Thereafter a third discretionary pick can be made.
‘It can only help one of us get a medal at the Worlds if this is what you have to come through to get there,’ Ujah said.
The 200m is equally close. Gemili (19.97sec), who missed out on bronze in Rio by three thousandths of a second, and Mitchell-Blake (19.95) have gone under 20sec. Zharnel Hughes, a training partner of Usain Bolt, has run 20.02sec and Danny Talbot had a blistering, windassisted run of 19.86sec.
Miguel Francis is a sub-20sec runner but it is understood he will miss the trials and Worlds with an ankle injury.
Hughes said: ‘ I think it is actually hotter than the 100. It is loaded.’
The upshot, at the very least, will be a vastly competitive relay team at the Worlds. That is where the harmony is important.
‘ When you have all these testosterone-fuelled beasts it can get out of hand,’ said Aikines-Aryeetey. ‘ This time it has been different despite the fact there are so many guys within reach of the same goal.
‘We have had Jen Savage, a psychologist, come in and help us to get on in certain ways, to be respectful of one another.’
Ujah added: ‘ She has helped change things. These are all good guys and we are stronger if we help each other — we can see that. But don’t think for a minute that we don’t want to crush each other out there. It will be hot on the track at these trials.’