Greg Rutherford claimed his fifth British championship despite “jumping like a doughnut” – and afterwards said the installation of a long jump pit in his back garden could help his bid for gold at the world championships.
Rutherford, who is aiming to complete the set of Olympic, European, Commonwealth and world championship gold medals in Beijing next month, hopes to have the 52m track and sandpit put down by the side of his house in Woburn Sands by the end of this week. “My dad’s a builder and I asked if we could put in a long jump pit,” he said. “He said: ‘Yeah, right.’ He’s a bit of a nutter like that. It started off as a bit of a dream. Now it’s becoming reality.
“I’ll be training on it, getting ready for the worlds. I’ll use it for my run-ups and any short sprinting, because it’s 52 metres long. I can put decent 50-metre sprints down. It will be a good training base. I’ve already got the home gym. Now I’ve got the track.”
As it turned out, Rutherford’s leap of 8.11m at these UK trials in Birmingham was good enough to beat Dan Bramble’s 8.04 into second place but afterwards he admitted he was puzzled by his modest performance. “It’s very odd,” he said. “A couple of competitions ago I jumped 8.25 and five days before that 8.35. I’ve had three weeks of training but for whatever reason I just didn’t have it at all. I need to go away and figure it out because 8.11 isn’t the best at this stage of the season.”
But while Rutherford struggled with his timing, Dina Asher-Smith’s was nearly perfect as she ran the third fastest time ever by a British woman to coast home in the women’s 100m in 11.08sec. Bianca Williams was a long way back in second in 11.43, with Desiree Henry third in 11.45. Asha Philip, Asher-Smith’s closest rival on paper, pulled up in the semi-finals but suggested afterwards it was a consequence of “just not feeling right” rather than injury.
Meanwhile in the men’s 100m CJ Ujah banished the frustrations of last year’s trials, when he arrived as favourite yet failed to deliver in the final, with an impressive victory over the European champion, James Dasaolu. Ujah’s time of 10.10 was a beat or two below his personal best of 9.96 but it was much too good for Dasaolu, who ran a disappointing 10.24 in finishing second, with Ojie Edoburun third in 10.27.
“It feels good after last year,” said Ujah. “I have learnt how to deal with the pressure. I knew that every other round didn’t matter and it was all about the finals. That was the main aim, recovery and getting ready for the finals. Last year I didn’t reserve energy in the heats but this year everything went to plan. I have been doing a lot of psychology with people from British Athletics. It has been helping a lot.”
Despite Ujah’s fine performance the 100m felt diminished. How could it not be when the two fastest British athletes this year – Adam Gemili, who has run 9.97, and Richard Kilty, whose best is 10.05 – were absent through injury?
There was a major surprise in the men’s 400m as the European champion, Martyn Rooney, could finish only joint-third in 45.88 behind Rabah Yousif (45.01) and Jarryd Dunn (45.24). With only the first two athletes in each event going to Beijing – provided they have achieved the qualifying standard at least twice in 2015 – Rooney or the exciting young 19-year-old Matthew Hudson-Smith, who won silver in Zurich last year but pulled out of the trials with a back spasm, will miss out.
Christine Ohuruogu, the women’s world 400m champion, also looked off the pace as she could manage only 52.04 in finishing second to Anyika Onuora, who ran 51.87. “It’s been a difficult season,” said Ohuruogu, who has been suffering with a slight hip strain. “I’ve missed quite a bit of training but I’m doing my best to catch up the time. I’ve got six weeks until Beijing so I just wanted to come here to see where I’m at.”
Ohuruogu was not the only athlete searching for form and there were few performances that would have struck fear into the rest of the world. But it was heartening to see Laura Muir continue her impressive run of form by running away from a quality field in the women’s 1500m, which included the 2011 world silver medallist, Hannah England, and the 2014 Commonwealth silver medallist, Laura Weightman. With the athletes dawdling at halfway, Muir decided to attack from the front and finished 30m clear of Weightman, with Jessica Judd third.
