But he’s got an 8

“But he’s got an 8.10 inside him right now and if he can just drag it out there could be a medal for him.”Tomlinson, who also won the European Cup title in Anne?last month, has something to prove to himself after only managing sixth place at the Commonwealth Games in a final where his keen British rival, Nathan Morgan, rose to the challenge to claim the title. Morgan was unable to compete here because of a foot injury.The chances of Britain’s women making an impact in the sprint relay were lessened by the decision of Vernicha James, the newly installed world junior 200m champion, not to travel to Munich. Not good for immediate medal hopes, but a sensible long term move for one of our most promising athletes.. Steve Backley claimed his fourth consecutive European javelin title here yesterday after a dramatic fifth-round effort of 88.54 metres proved sufficient to defeat a world-class field that included his old nemesis Jan Zelezny. Zelezny responded with 90.17m to leave the Briton with his second Olympic silver. This time the glory was all his as he overtook the first round throw of 88.05m by Russia’s Sergei Makarov, who leads this year’s world standings with the 92.61m he achieved in Sheffield two months ago.After producing a last effort of 84.76m, Backley studiously put on his track-suit as Makarov prepared to take the last throw of the competition.

The spear landed short of the 85m mark, and the Russian stepped over the line. Backley stepped forward to shake his hand warmly, then broke into a broad smile as the force of what he had done registered.Eight years ago in Helsinki, Backley won the European title against a similarly stellar field, and celebrated with a loping, sideways jog into the throwing arc. Last night that moment of elation was replicated as he made his way to the centre of the stadium once again, thunderously acknowledged by a packed stadium full of home fans who had come to see if the two German throwers, Raymond Hecht and Boris Henry, could gain the special lift they needed to earn medals through sheer weight of expectation. Henry rose to the challenge, taking bronze in 85.33m.Zelezny was clearly struggling with a leg injury, and missed the cut to the final eight places after nullifying his first three efforts because they were insufficient to satisfy him.For most of the competition it looked as if the Cambridge Harrier was due to collect a silver behind Makarov. Backley moved into second place with his own first-round effort of 86.29m, and improved to 86.37m in the third round.Marlon Devonish earned Britain’s fifth bronze medal of these championships in a 200 metres which was won in startling fashion by Greece’s Olympic champion Konstantinos Kenteris, who crossed the line three metres clear with his left arm raised in triumph, stopping the clock at 19.85sec – a Championship record and the fastest run in the world this year.Devonish recorded 20.24, 0.03sec behind the silver medallist, Francis Obikwelu, Portugal’s adopted Nigerian sprinter. Christian Malcolm – Britain’s only other representative in the event following the previous day’s disqualification of Darren Campbell for running over his line – produced a season’s best of 20.30 in fourth place despite carrying an injury which needed an injection earlier this week.The 26-year-old Coventry Godiva Harrier deserved another medal in what has been the best season of his career so far, having won both the Commonwealth and European trials and European Cup, and taken a silver behind Frankie Fredericks at the Commonwealth Games.”Kenteris was miles ahead at the start,” Devonish said.

“But I was really strong on the home straight, which is my strength anyway I’ll catch Kenteris another time. I steadily improved in my career from Edmonton, but honestly – even though I won the bronze medal I’m still a bit disappointed.”Chris Rawlinson’s roller-coaster season ended on a downward run yesterday as he was left distraught and flat on his back after pulling up in pain just three flights of barriers into a 400m hurdles final won by France’s former world champion St?ane Diagana in 47.59sec. By the time the Frenchman finished, the 30-year-old Yorkshireman, who had been receiving treatment for what Max Jones, UK Athletics’ performance director, described as “a niggle” behind his right knee, had his hands over his face in disappointment.His season had begun outstandingly as he beat all of the world’s leading hurdlers except the world champion, Felix Sanchez, on the European circuit, but lurched alarmingly when he failed to perform at the European trials and then suffered food poisoning.Eleven days ago he had recovered sufficiently to take his first major gold medal as he won the Commonwealth title in a time of 49.14. But yesterday proved a challenge too far, although Rawlinson would have had to be close to his best to have earned a medal in a race where Jiri Muzik of the Czech Republic took silver in 48.43, and Pawel Januszewski of Poland the bronze in 48.46.”I’m not exactly over the moon,” Rawlinson said. “I thought I could shake off the injury but I was wrong.”Muriel Hurtis, France’s 23-year-old sprinting talent, took another step towards filling the place left by Marie Jose Perec as she won the women’s 200m title in 22.43.Diane Allahgreen equalled her personal best of 12.92 in the 100m hurdles semi-final, but could only place fifth in the final in a time of 13.07 as Glory Alozie, now of Spain, won in 12.73..

As England and India grapple with bad light and drizzle at Trent Bridge this weekend, 1,000 miles away three of their biggest rivals are preparing to indulge in a little fantasy cricket. The Morocco Cup, a triangular tournament between Pakistan, Sri Lanka and South Africa, begins on Monday in Tangier, where temperatures are a constant 80 degrees, the air is cooled by a pleasant breeze off the Mediterranean and the rainfall figure for the entire month of August is officially nil. The perfect place, indeed, for an Arab multi-millionaire to build his own stadium and stump up $250,000 (£163,000) worth of prize-money to lure the game’s big names.Moroccan cricket’s sugar daddy is Abdur Rahman Bukhatir, the mogul who also built Sharjah, the desert venue in the United Arab Emirates that, during the 1990s, became the world capital of one-day cricket. Bukhatir is not only hoping big-time cricket’s first visit to north Africa might soon be followed by a second – October’s planned Pakistan-Australia Test series is still looking for a home – but that the locals will latch on to the game and start playing it in numbers. He has offset some of his hefty investment by selling television rights to screen the Morocco Cup in Africa, Asia and Europe.”Stadium” might be overstating it a little when it comes to discussing the ground five miles outside Tangier. True, it did take £4m and 15 months to build: but a lot of that effort went on flattening the site’s troublesome hills.