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| | Saturday, 22 June, 2002, 18:19 GMT 19:19 UK Chambers stars for Britain Dwain Chambers equalled the championship record Dwain Chambers was the star of the show as Britain's men ended the first day of the European Cup in second place, two points behind leaders France. Chambers picked up Britain's first win of the day when he scorched home in 10.04 seconds - equalling Linford Christie's championship record - to win the 100m. And he then produced a flying leg to anchor the 4x100m team to victory when it looked as through poor changeovers had blown Britain's chances. However, it was not such a good day for the women's team, who ended the day in seventh place and in danger of relegation.
Chambers' victory in the 100m was impressive, with French runner-up Aime Nthepe over two metres adrift as he clocked 10.27secs. However, the hot conditions were not to Chambers' liking. "I had a suntan out there," he said. "I don't like it that hot - I prefer the weather at Gateshead or Sheffield. "It's so hot I had to limit my warm-up. You're almost exhausted when you get out there." The team captain rounded off the day by storming down the straight in majestic style to win going away from the field in the sprint relay, despite a stuttering display from the rest of the quartet.
Tomlinson took the long jump with a first effort of 8.17m, while Caines held off world silver medallist Ingo Schultz to win by 0.17 seconds in a personal best of 45.14secs. "You've got four jumps here," said Tomlinson. "It's about trying to get as good a jump as you can in the first round then building upon it. "It was nice to get 8.17 but then I wasn't able to do any better. "My last jump felt like the best. I think it may have been behind the board and into a little headwind." Other good points came from Sam Haughian, who came an unexpected second in the 5,000m, and Michael East, who matched Haughian's achievement in the 1,500m. Bad day The women's team never really got going and a disastrous 4x100m relay, when they failed to finish and scored no points, summed up their day. Their best performance came from Ashia Hansen, who jumped a season's best of 14.62m with her only valid jump to clinch second place behind Russia's Anna Pyatykh. In the women's 100m Shani Anderson ran 11.38secs, her fastest time of the season. But it was only good enough for sixth and in the 800m Kelly Holmes could only manage a disappointing fourth place in a race marred by lots of physical contact. Standings after day one of the European Cup: Men's (after 10 of 20 events) Women's (after 10 of 20 events) | |
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