The Electronic Telegraph Monday 2 July 2001 Tom Knight JON DRUMMOND, the American sprinter, was joking when he referred to the weather in Glasgow as "a beautiful gloom" but the description could not have been more apt for Britain's Mark Richardson. It seemed almost poetic that a darkening sky and light drizzle rendered the Scotstoun Stadium even gloomier when Richardson lined up for his first 400 metres race since the lifting of his doping ban. At the end of a perfectly judged lap, however, it was as if Richardson had emerged from the darkness into the brightest of lights with a victory that underlined the restoration of his reputation. The time, 46.20 seconds, was immaterial. The weather put paid to any fast times. More significant was that among those chasing Richardson to the line was Antonio Pettigrew, the winner of the recent US trials and an athlete tipped by Michael Johnson to succeed him as world champion next month in Edmonton. Richardson, who proved to the International Amateur Athletic Federation that his nandrolone positive was the result of a contaminated food supplement, showed signs that he could emerge from his personal nightmare. At last week's European Cup, Richardson marked his comeback with little more than a headstrong dash when he anchored Britain's 4 x 400m relay effort. Yesterday, there were no such mistakes. Richardson said: "One of the team coaches told me not to take out my frustration in the first 200m like I did in Bremen. "Today was about running a controlled race. The weather was always going to suit the Brits." UK Athletics contributed to Richardson's return by making him captain of the British team in this three-way match against the United States and Russia. Richardson added: "When they announced I was captain, there was spontaneous applause from the team. It's great to be back in this environment. Science proved I was a victim of circumstances and I just want to get back to being an athlete. "I'd be a fool to think I could win at the world championships. But there is always a chance." For all the emotion surrounding Richardson, the athlete of the match award went to Olympic champion Jonathan Edwards for his winning leap of 17.66m in the triple jump. It was Edwards's only jump and came as an immediate response to a wind-assisted 17.38m from Phillips Idowu. Edwards said: "I had to produce the goods and it's good to know I can still do it at 35." Katharine Merry produced Britain's only other individual win, with 51.03sec in the 400m but the effort clearly took its toll on the Olympic bronze medallist, who was helped away suffering badly with a headache. She has been on a course of antibiotics for a throat infection and trained only sparingly following her run in the European Cup. Merry leads the world rankings with her 49.59sec in Athens last month but Grit Breuer has moved into world championship reckoning after claiming the German title with 49.78sec. European Cup silver medallist Janine Whitlock broke her British pole vault record, clearing 4.36m, at the IAAF Grand Prix Two meeting in Budapest yesterday. Cuba's Olympic bronze medallist, Osleidys Menendez, yesterday set a world record of 71.54m in the women's javelin at an international meeting in Crete. Details NORWICH UNION CHALLENGE (Glasgow).- Match Events, Saturday: Men 100m: 1, J Drummond (US) 10.10s; 2, D Chambers (GB) 10.13; 3, I Mackie (guest) 10.19; 4, M Lewis-Francis (GB) 10.25; 5, B Williams (US) 10.36; 6, S Bychkov (Russia) 10.44; 7, S Kononyuk (Russia) 10.47. 400m hdls: 1, A Taylor (US) 49.01; 2, C Rawlinson (GB) 49.22; 3, R Maschenko (Russia) 49.52; 4, J Carter (US) 49.70; 5, D Ladejo (GB) 49.70; 6, B Gorban (Russia) 49.70. Discus: 1, J Godina (US) 65.54m; 2, D Shevchenko (Russia) 64.26; 3, A Setliff (US) 63.84; 4, R Weir (GB) 61.79; 5, A Borichevsky (Russia) 61.68; 6, G Smith (GB) 59.00. Women: 100m: 1, C Gaines (US) 11.19; 2, A Oyepitan (GB) 11.29; 3, M Kislova (Russia) 11.44; 4, M Richardson (GB) 11.52; 5, M Trandenkova (US) 11.63. 400m: 1, K Merry (GB) 51.03; 2, M Henaghan (US) 51.30; 3, N Antyukh (Russia) 53.28; 4, D Fraser (GB) 53.02; 5, Y Nosova (Russia) 53.22. 3,000m s'chase: 1, L Jackson (US) 9m 48.72s (Nat rec); 2, T Krzywicki (GB) 9-52.71; 3, Y Volkova (Russia) 9-59.11; 4, K Ormond (US) 10-04.14; 5, N Cherpanova (Russia) 10-11.38, 6, C Martin (GB) 10-46.01. Invitation Events: Men, 100m: 1, J Johnson (US) 10.19s, 2, D Money (Sale) 10.33; 3, J Oparka (Arbroath) 10.55. 800m: 1, P Korir (Kenya) 1-47.61; 2, G Cuddy (Sale) 1-48.41; 3, M Stember (US) 1-48.46; 4, F Onyancha (Kenya) 1-48.83; 5, V Wilson (Jarrow) 1-49.03; 6, A Graffin (Tonbridge) 1-49.09; 7, J Swift-Smith (Shaftesbury) 1-49.47; 8, R Watkinson (Rotherham) 1-49.80; 9, T Nimmo (Arbroath) 1-50.32. Women 100m: 1, A Forrester (Stoke) 11.37; 2, J Maduaka (Woodford) 11.42; 3, S Anderson (Shaftesbury) 11.50; 4, D Benjamin (Windsor) 11.81; 5, S Williams (Walton) 11.84. Sunday: Men: 200m: 1; K Little (US) 20.31; 2, C Malcolm (GB) 20.47; 3, M Devonish (GB) 20.50; 4, D Mitchell (US) 21.05; 5, S Bychkov (Russia) 21.11; 6, D Walker (guest) 21.17; 7, A Ryabov (Russia) 21.21. 400m: 1, M Richardson (GB) 46.20; 2, J Young (US) 46.25; 3, A Pettigrew (US) 46.33; 4, D Golovastov (Russia) 46.55; 5, I Thomas (GB) 46.68; 6, A Semyonov (Russia) 46.70. 800m: 1, Y Borzakovskiy (Russia) 1-48.50; 2, N Speaight (GB) 1-48.88; 3, D Bogdanov (Russia) 1-49.11; 4, S Lees (GB) 1-49.12; 5, T Gray (US) 1-50.03; 6, D Peterson (US) 1-51.01. 1500m: 1, S Lassiter (US) 3-50.78; 2, A Downin (US) 3-51.06; 3, B Kaveshnikov (Russia) 3-51.08; 4, J Mayock (GB) 3-51.32; 5, A Whiteman (GB) 3-51.69; 6, T Mayo (GB) 3-51.96; 7, A Zadorozhniy (Russia) 3-52.00. 110m hdls: 1, A Johnson (US) 13.31w; 2; C Jackson (GB) 13.37; 3, D Wallace (US) 13.41; 4, Y Pechonkin (Russia) 13.45; 5, T Jarrett (GB) 13.47; 6, C Baillie (guest) 13.70; 7, Y Volkov (Russia) 13.88. High Jump: 1, C Austin (US) 2.25m; 2, N Leeper (US) 2.25; 3, Y Rybakov (Russia) 2.22; 4, P Brayko (Russia) 2.22; 5, R Mitchell (GB) 2.14; 6, D Grant (GB) 2.14. Triple Jump: 1, J Edwards (GB) 17.66; 2, P Idowu (GB) 17.38w; 3, L Carter (US) 17.01; 4, R Howard (US) 16.71; 5, A Kurrenov (Russia) 16.56; 6, D Kapustin (Russia) 16.32w. Javelin: 1, B Greer (US) 85.74; 2, S Backley (GB) 84.26; 3, M Hill (GB) 83.42; 4, A Ivanov (Russia) 81.45; 5, Y Rybin (Russia) 81.22; 6, T Pukstys (US) 77.83. 4 x 100m: 1, GB & N Ireland 38.69; 2, US 38.83; 3, Russia 39.79. Eamonn Condon www.RunnersGoal.com
