And even they are far from secure medal favourites.Radcliffe's form and fitness were short of the mark at the European Cup First League meeting in Leiria, Portugal, last month, while the re-emergence of Eunice Barber and the emergence of young American Hyleas Fountain have provided Sotherton with more rivals to worry about than the two women who finished ahead of her at the Athens Olympics: Carolina Kluft and Austra Skujyte.With Dame Kelly Holmes suffering from an Achilles problem and confessing she is "less and less likely" to place her reputation on the line in Helsinki, the only other Great British source of real hope for medals is the men's 4 x 100 metre relay team, although not the same four who memorably struck Olympic gold last summer. Paula Radcliffe is the world No 1 for 2005 in the marathon and Kelly Sotherton is the world No 3 in the heptathlon. As it is, the 2005 national championships are qualifiers for World Championships that have been passed on to Helsinki - World Championships in which British athletes are unlikely to suffer altitude sickness from ascending the medal rostrum. It is a sobering starting point on the long road to the London Olympics of 2012, never mind to the 2005 World Championships which open in Helsinki on 6 August, that Britain happens to have just two athletes ranked in the top six in the world in standard Olympic track and field events. British athletics needs every one of the seven years it now has to get ready for a test of its global strength on home ground. Had it not been for the small matter of London being unable to deliver the stadium it promised, the Norwich Union AAA Championships, which opened yesterday in the Manchester Regional Arena, would have been the trials for World Championships in England's capital just four weeks' hence. The road to the global championships that were awarded to London does not look to be paved with very much British gold - or British silver or bronze, for that matter.
So much, though, for next month's IAAF track and field World Championships. It is just as well that Picketts Lock became an £89m pipe dream, and that London 2005 became Helsinki 2005 instead. Her winning time, 12.96sec, was as notable as her winning margin - 0.25sec, ahead of Allahgreen. Back in fifth place, in 13.35sec, Kelly Sotherton completed the first half of her weekend's work in preparation for the heptathlon at the World Championships in Helsinki next month.Earlier in the day, the Olympic heptathlon bronze medallist had won her high hurdles heat in 13.65sec and then taken sixth place in the high jump with a clearance of 1.85metres "I'm quite frustrated," Sotherton said. I've just got to get a few more races under my belt."The next race for the Commonwealth champion will be the 1500m final this afternoon, in which McCormick will be looking to continue his impressive progress of late. I'm disappointed with my placings."The Birchfield Harrier is likely to place on top of the pile in the long jump today She also competes in the shot on the second and final day..
"This is the start of the second part of my season and I expected a bit more. Having relieved Diane Allahgreen of the British indoor 60m hurdles record in the winter, Sarah Claxton came within 0.01sec of Shirley Strong's 22-year-old championship record. The 23-year-old Morpeth Harrier heads the British rankings with 3min 37.66sec and has been shrewdly nurtured by Lindsay Dunn, a former training partner of Brendan Foster and Charlie Spedding, who helped to guide both Gateshead runners to Olympic bronze medals as a coaching adviser.The most impressive performance yesterday came in the final of the women's 100m hurdles. "Racing's a different ball game and the first race of the season is always tough, especially when it's a heat. (No wonder the French get fed up with us from time to time.) Dissenting voices - those of us who do not care for sport, who dislike the rampant commercialism of the Olympic Games and remember the financial fiasco of the Millennium Dome - were drowned out in the second piece of emotional manipulation in less than a week.It was in this compulsory feel-good atmosphere, reminiscent of the emotional correctness that followed the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, that the terrorists struck.
