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Farcical end to men's 100 metres final
A chaotic men's 100 metres
final ended in farce at the London grand prix on
Friday after officials switched from electronic to
manual timing in the evening's showpiece event.
After a start delayed by some 15 minutes, European
champion Dwain Chambers eventually won the race in an
unrecorded time.
A false start by American champion Bernard Williams
started the delays and then Chambers's British team
mate Darren Campbell complained that music was coming
out of his starting blocks.
Officials switched from electronic to manual timing
which resulted in a time of 9.53 seconds -- 0.25 of a
second inside the official world record -- being
flashed on the board when Chambers edged Commonweath
gold medallist Kim Collins.
Collins was credited with 9.56, also clearly
erroneous.
"The problem is we switched from electronic to manual
timing," an official said. "There's a possibility that
the times won't be recorded."
Eventually times were produced which were even less
enlightening. Each of the first five were credited
with an even 10 seconds.
World record holder Tim Montgomery was already out of
the competition after a dreadful start in his heat.
The 28-year-old American was left standing at the
start, made up some ground in the middle of the race
but then faded to sixth in a heat won by Collins in
9.97 seconds.
"I slipped in the blocks," said Montgomery, who also
finished sixth in Tuesday's Stockholm grand prix. "It
was my mistake. It is going to take some more races to
get where I need to be. After a terrible start I was
at least able to come up through the field and hold
on."
Even without a proper time, Chambers was elated after
an excellent race so close to the world championships,
which take place in Paris starting August 23.
"This was a world championship final minus Maurice
Greene," he said.
American women's 100 metres champion Kelli White
equalled her best time of the year with a decisive
victory over Ukrainian world gold medallist Zhanna
Block.
WHITE WINS
White confirmed she would be the favourite at the
Paris world championships along with veteran Chandra
Strurrup of the Bahamas by clocking 10.93 seconds with
a following wind of 1.3 metres a second on a hot,
sultry night at Crystal Palace.
Former U.S.champion Chryste Gaines was second in 10.99
with Block struggling to hold third place.
"I know I am in pretty good form so I expected to be
able to run fast," said White. "I have been feeling
good all season. I will go to Paris feeling extra
confident after tonight.
"I have taken a month off from competition to train
and to iron out all the strains. I am now going to run
Berlin on Sunday and hope to perform even better."
Kenya's Edith Masai recorded a significant victory
over Olympic and world champion Gabriela Szabo in the
women's 5,000 metres, outsprinting the Romanian in the
final straight. Olympic and world 10,000 champion
Derartu Tulu finished third.
World record holder Yelana Isinbayeva beat Russian
team mate Svetlana Feofanova in the women's pole
vault, with both women making unsuccessful attempts at
a new record height of 4.83.
Cuban Yamile Aldama won the women's triple jump with
an impressive final leap of 15.27 metres, only two
centimetres short of her year's best. German Boris
Henry relegated Britain's European champion Steve
Backley to second place in the men's javelin with a
throw of 85.77.
Olympic and world champion Jonathan Edwards was
stretchered form the arena after injuring his right
ankle in the men's triple jump. Medical officials said
he was expected to be fit for Paris.
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