Athletics: Globe-trotting Gardener Races Quickly on Towards Melbourne

Jason Gardener’s winter season, due to culminate with what he hopes will be his first medal in a major 100 meters in the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in March, is already proving to be a hectic but successful one. The Bath Bullet, fresh from victories over 60m in Moscow last Wednesday and Glasgow on Saturday, flew to Germany yesterday to compete in the BW-Bank-Meeting in the Europahalle in Karlsruhe. At the end of a long day’s traveling he had recorded a third consecutive victory and regained the world leading time for 2006 that he had set in Scotland and briefly lost overnight.

Gardener had run 6.59sec here at the Kelvin Hall in the Norwich Union International only to lose it by the time he woke up after the American Terrence Trammell ran 6.57 in Boston. The world and European indoor champion eclipsed that in his heat in Germany by running 6.55. He was slightly slower in the final, winning in 6.58, but it was a weekend’s work well done.

"The run in Glasgow was OK," Malcolm Arnold, his coach, said from Karlsruhe. "But this was more like the proper Jason Gardener. It was a good performance, especially pleasing when you consider the traveling he has done.

"He had to get up at 4.30am today to get his flight from Heathrow. He arrived in Karlsruhe at midday and ran that heat at 3.30pm. So all in all it was a very good performance." Gardener is insisting he will not defend his world indoor title in Moscow in March because it is only five days before the Commonwealth Games open and he does not believe it is possible to compete successfully in both.

Such is the potential quality of the field in Melbourne that Gardener has referred to it as being like a world championship. Six of the world’s top 10 are eligible to compete, including Jamaica’s world record holder Asafa Powell, who missed Helsinki last year because of a groin injury. He ran his first race since June in Kingston on Saturday when he made a rare appearance over 400m, clocking 48.01 to finish third. "He ran 0.5 seconds faster than last year [in a similar race] so we are quite satisfied with how things went," said Stephen Francis, his coach.

Daniel Caines has been injured even longer and long ago gave up his chances of making the trip to Australia. The Solihull runner, now based in North Carolina, has set his sights instead on regaining the world indoor title he won in Lisbon in 2001. It has been a long road back for the 26-year-old and relief more than joy was etched on his face as he crossed the line first in Glasgow in 46.90 after withstanding a challenge from Powell’s compatriot Davian Clarke.

"I’m still not at my best but as long as I continue to do that I’ll be pleased," said Caines. "Dean Macey saw me yesterday and said, ‘Oh my God, I thought you’d retired’ and I said, ‘I’m younger than you are.’ I want to get my title back. I want to stay injury-free and realize my potential."

That is also the aim of Nathan Morgan. When fit, Caines’ Birchfield club-mate is potentially among the best long jumpers in the world, as he demonstrated when he won the Commonwealth title in Manchester four years ago. The problem is that he is rarely fit long enough to fulfill his potential. He is among the few British athletes to have turned down the opportunity of Melbourne to concentrate instead on the world indoor championships and will be feeling confident after winning in Glasgow with a leap of 8.05m.

The most impressive performance of the weekend, certainly the most surprising, came from Corby’s Karen Harewood at a development international meeting in Budapest. The 30-year-old scored an incredible 800m victory in 2min 00.53sec, the third fastest by a Briton. She had been a promising sprinter as a youngster before giving up and having two children. She returned only two years ago as a middle-distance runner and her time was easily inside the world indoor championship qualifying standard of 2:04. She is certain to be selected.