Baulch: Out of form in 2001

In Jackson's case, he returned from his winter training break in Tenerife not satisfied that he was in the ideal shape to compete.

He felt his time was better spent getting treatment from top physio Gerard Hartman in Ireland, aiming to ensure he'd be in the best possible shape for the outdoor season later in the year.

Poor form
Jamie Baulch is the current World Indoor 400m champion.

This time around, he's had to settle for a place in the relay team.

Daniel Caines - by a big distance - and Mark Hylton have got the nod for the two individual places after running better times over the past two months.

Baulch had his last chance at the Norwich Union Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham on 18 February.

An in-form Baulch would have blasted to the front at halfway using his 200m speed.

But both Caines and Hylton got in front of him - and down the back straight Baulch was unable to get past.

Style
The tight, banked bends on indoor tracks mean a tall athlete with a long stride length will struggle in the 200m and 400m.

Iwan Thomas' style is not suited to indoor tracks

The reverse of that means that shorter, stockier sprinters - like Baulch - should be at an advantage.

This is the reason why you won't see Julian Golding running 200m indoors, or Iwan Thomas doing the 400m.

In the 60m the better starters will clearly be at an advantage - whereas outdoors over 100m the sprinter with good 200m stamina will often come through over the last 10m.

Choice
Katharine Merry has been on devastating form over 400m in her two indoor appearances this season.

She broke Phylis Smith's four-year old British record on her first and then set new national and Commonwealth marks on her second.

It's the sort of form that would put her amongst the favourites for gold in Lisbon - if she were running.

Like many athletes, Merry reasons that the outdoor World Championships in Edmonton, Canada in August are her priority - and that means no World Indoors.

To prepare properly for Lisbon would mean missing out on valuable strength and stamina work in training - work that will have an impact on her form this summer.

It's rare that an athlete's indoors work can, as Christian Malcolm's has this year, incorporate the training they would have done for the summer anyway.

Malcolm wanted to work on his speed before the summer - and running a series of 60m indoors fits that bill perfectly.