http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml;sessionid=CGYZTGZ4BNRRJQFIQMFCM5OAVCBQYJVC?xml=/sport/2005/02/14/soaths14.xml&sSheet=/sport/2005/02/14/ixsport.html&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=44798
By Tom Knight (Filed: 14/02/2005) Jason Gardener won the 60 metres at the European Trials and AAA Championships in Sheffield yesterday and he might not have a closer race all season. The Olympic relay gold medallist and world indoor champion suffered a terrible start and had to work hard to make up ground. =========================================== http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/graphics/2005/02/14/soaths140205.jpg Close call: Jason Gardener (centre) just holds off Mark Findlay and Darren Chin +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ At the line, Gardener had done enough to edge ahead of the former drug cheat, Mark Findlay and Darren Chin to claim his fifth AAA title in 6.60sec. It was hardly the sort of time or performance that will have Gardener's rivals quaking ahead of next month's European Indoor Championships in Madrid. It was not the best of days for Gardener. Earlier, he learned that his six-year-old European record had been bettered by France's Ronald Pognon. The Frenchman, who already led this season's world rankings, clocked 6.45sec to win the 60m at the IAAF Grand Prix in Karlsruhe, Germany. Gardener said: "I dropped out of the blocks so I'm pleased to win this title again. "I was just getting ready for my semi-final when I heard about my record going. I knew it could happen because that track is the fastest in the world." Despite this scare, Gardener will go to Madrid as a gold medal prospect. Phillips Idowu will also have that responsibility after winning the triple jump with a final round leap of 17.30m to beat the long-time leader, Nathan Douglas. This was Idowu's first competition since he failed to register a single distance in the Olympic final and the personal best was enough to establish him as the world No 1. The absence of the world and Olympic champion, Christian Olsson, because of injury means that Idowu will have the perfect opportunity to restore his dented reputation. The bad memories from Athens, however, are long gone. He said: "A couple of weeks of drinking and partying and I was fine. "I have too much unfulfilled potential to even think of giving this up." Kelly Sotherton, the heptathlon bronze medallist in Athens, warmed up for her 60m hurdles and long jump competitions against the Olympic champion, Carolina Kluft in Birmingham on Friday by scoring personal bests in three of the four events she contested in Sheffield. The last of those came in the 60m hurdles where Sotherton was fourth behind Sarah Claxton's second British record in eight days. Claxton, 25, clocked 7.96sec to improve her record by 0.02sec. ENDS
