Athletics: Jones Admits World Championships Unlikely

Marion Jones's amazing decline from the world's greatest athlete to also-run is such that even she is now admitting that she does not expect to make the United States team for the world championships this summer.

The Californian, winner of a record five Olympic track and field medals in Sydney 2000, finished fourth in the 100 metres at an event in Monterrey, Mexico, on Saturday. Jones clocked 11.40sec, three-quarters of a second outside her personal best of 10.65, in her final tune-up before the US championships at Carson, California, which begin on June 23. Chandra Sturrup, of the Bahamas, won the race in 11.14.

The top three in each event in the US championships are guaranteed a place in America's team for Helsinki in August.

But even Jones concedes she is not among the favourites. "I will go and train for two weeks and try to pull off a long shot," said the 1997 and 1999 world 100m champion.

Jones is being boycotted by the big meetings in Europe because during her career she has been associated with so many people linked to doping, most notably the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative.

Victor Conte, the founder and owner of Balco, has claimed he supplied Jones with banned performance- enhancing drugs. She has been investigated by the United States Anti-Doping Agency, but not formally charged and is currently suing Conte for $25m (£14m).

The performances of Jones's partner, the world record-holder Tim Montgomery are, if possible, even more embarrassing. He finished fifth in the men's 100m in 10.43, a day after the conclusion of a doping hearing before the Court of Arbitration for Sport that could result in a lifetime ban from the sport. His fellow American JJ Johnson won the race in 10.18.

The USADA has accused Montgomery of serious doping violations, although he has never failed a test and has publicly denied taking drugs. But the San Francisco Chronicle has reported that Montgomery told a federal grand jury investigating Balco that he had taken banned steroids.

· At the Bedford International Games yesterday the 18-year-old Craig Pickering beat Darren Campbell, a member of Britain's Olympic gold medal winning 4x100m relay squad. The Milton Keynes teenager won in 10.36.

On Saturday Kathy Butler retained her AAA 10,000m title when she won in 31min 46.53sec. The victory ensured the Windsor runner of a place in the British team for the world championship.

The most notable moment of the meeting came in the pole-vault where Janine Whitlock jumped 4.46 metres for the 38th British record of her career.