BBC SPORT | Athletics | Britain in World Cup woe

Team captain Dwain Chambers finished a disappointing fifth in the 100m as Great Britain struggled to make an impact on day one of the World Cup in Madrid.

Photo Gallery: Pictures from day one

Britain finished the day in seventh place on 44 points, with defending champions Africa leading on 65 from the United States with 61 and Europe on 60.

I am totally drained

Dwain Chambers

After a torrential downpour at La Comunidad Stadium that halted proceedings for 30 minutes, Chambers failed to give his team the lift they needed.

He struggled home in 10.16secs, well behind surprise winner Uchenna Emedolu of Nigeria, who clocked 10.06.

Commonwealth champion Kim Collins of St Kitts & Nevis came in second, with Francis Obikwelu third for Europe.

"I am totally drained as you could see by my performance in the 100m," said Chambers, who then pulled out of the 4x100m relay.

Marion Jones beat the rain to take 100m victory
"The relay would be better served by some fresh legs and I think I could have also injured myself had I run it."

American Marion Jones claimed a second World Cup crown in the women's 100m to end the season unbeaten.

Jones clocked 10.90 seconds after the race had been delayed by a total of three premature starts.

"I have never had an undefeated season before," said Jones. "And it feels very good."

The British sprint relay quartet of Jonathan Barbour, Marlon Devonish, Christian Malcolm and Chambers' replacement Daniel Plummer came home seventh in 39.23.

The US foursome won in a World Cup record 37.95.

The best moment of the night for Britain's men came when Chris Rawlinson took third place in the 400m hurdles in 49.18, behind James Carter of the US.

"I don't know where that came from," said Rawlinson. "I have had a disaster since Munich and I am having a cartilage operation on Monday.

Chris Rawlinson was delighted with third
"I have only trained four times since Munich and I just could not hold on on the back straight. I was thinking how can a cripple finish second?"

High jumper Ben Challenger was also third with a best effort of 2.20m, while Ashia Hansen - representing Europe as Britain's women failed to qualify - came second in the triple jump with 14.32m.

Britain's men will look to veterans Colin Jackson, Steve Backley and Jonathan Edwards to score points on Saturday.

Scotland's Lee McConnell finished fourth in the 400m with a personal best of 50.82 as Mexico's Ana Guevara won in 49.56.

"I have taken 1.23secs off my best this year," said McConnell.

"This is what I thought I would be running but after the Europeans I did not expect to do it as I was tired."


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