Prescod in mood to beat Linford’s 100m record

A BRITISH record that has stood for 25 years could fall today according to the man widely reckoned to be in the best position to break it. Reece Prescod has his sights fixed on eclipsing Linford Christie’s 100metres mark of 9.87sec at the national championships, even though his personal best will only rank him fourth among the starters in Birmingham. Zharnel Hughes was the fastest man in the world this year until last

weekend, having run 9.91 off a slow start. Then comes reigning Diamond League series champion CJ Ujah with 9.96 and Nethaneel MitchellBlake on 9.99. Prescod’s personal best is a wildly misleading 10.03. Far more instructive is the 9.88 he produced in the US last month with a tailwind that was only marginally stronger than the permitted limit for a time to be legal. ‘I feel like the record could definitely go but it has to be the right conditions,’ said Prescod (left), who has beaten Justin Gatlin and Andre de Grasse in the Diamond League this season. ‘Birmingham may bring it out with the right field and when I race the best in the world that is what tends to happen. ‘The record has been there a long time. I know I can go faster than 9.8, so into the 9.7s. It won’t happen now or overnight, but when in a few years I have got stronger and worked on my start, I feel like anything is possible.’ With only the top two sure of a place in August’s European Championships, there is plenty riding on the race.