NEWS

Steele almost robbed of 400m victory in Lucerne

ANDREW STEELE encountered an unexpected hazard at the end of his race in Lucerne last week. The 400m runner won from lane one in 45.84 despite finding officials had neglected to move the lane marker from his lane. Steele, who is this year’s UK No.1 with his breakthrough PB of 45.31, noticed about 50 metres from the line that the obstacle remained in his path. “I remember laughing to myself, thinking ‘they’re really not going to move it – I better think about how to get around it!’” said Steele. Nevertheless, the Trafford athlete overcame the obstacle to cross the line four hundredths in front of two-time world indoorchampion Alleyne Francique, of Grenada. “I had to sort of hurdle and side-step the thing in order to get to the line,” said Steele. “It must have slowed me down but probably not much – maybe around 0.2 seconds.”

Weather hampers Ennis’s training

THE recent flooding which hit Sheffield and other parts of the country last week wreaked havoc with Jessica Ennis’s training for the European Under-23 Championships in Debrecen, Hungary, writes Rose Paxman. Though she already has her place on the team – she will be contesting the 100m hurdles and the high jump, as reported in last week’s AW– finding a place to train has proved a little more difficult. Ennis’s hometown of Sheffield was hit hardest by the recent floods which have affected many parts of Britain. Although she resides safely on the other side of the city, Ennis was unable to train at her usual location, the Don Valley Stadium. The English Institute of Sport in Sheffield neighbours the stadium but has also had to close due to floods in the area. Eager to train for her upcoming competition, Ennis tried to head out to Leeds and Loughborough but was unable to fight traffic in the gridlocked city. She finally resorted to Woodbourn Road athletics track in Sheffield but

Jessica Ennis: training venue was closed due to flooding

MarkShearman

admitted: “The facilities are not very good.” Here she practised her javelin throw but was unable to use a high jump bed or any hurdles. However, it will take more than poor weather to dampen Ennis’s spirits and her early-season successes have boosted the confidence of the Commonwealth bronze medallist. Ennis, among the favourites for the European Under-23 sprint hurdles and high jump titles, remains unfazed by the unavoidable gap in her training week. Her high jump performance of

1.95m at the Combined Events Challenge in Desenzano, Italy, puts her at the top of the European Under-23 rankings, while her new 100m hurdles PB of 13.04 – set at last month’s England Under-23 Championships – ranks as the second best in Europe in the age group. Just a week before she performs in Debrecen, Ennis – along with Kelly Sotherton, Julie Hollman and Louise Hazel – will compete in the European Cup of Combined Events in Szczecin, Poland, this weekend.

10 athleti csweekly.com