Athletics: Jackson ready for snap decision: TSB International

COLIN JACKSON will chase the world 60 metres hurdles record in the TSB International at the Birmingham Indoor National Area today safe in the knowledge that if he succeeds all the right equipment will be on hand.

The Welshman thought he had set a record of 7.35sec in Glasgow two weeks ago. But the next morning, after the photograph of the finish had been studied more closely, a hundredth of a second was added, giving him the same time as Greg Foster.

Birmingham, however, is big enough to accommodate the required technology and officials will be able to look at the photo-finish immediately.

Jackson will not have Tony Jarrett, the world silver medallist, to push him this time, but the man he succeeded as the world 110m hurdles record holder, Roger Kingdom, is in the field. The American admitted that he is probably not yet ready to challenge Jackson after a spell out through injury. 'I need to get used to being in the blocks alongside Colin again because he's really flying,' he said.

Linford Christie meets Namibia's Frankie Fredericks over 60 and 200m. Christie missed the UK 200m record of 20.54sec by just two- hundrendths in Ghent earlier this month, and Fredericks, the world outdoor champion and the second-fastest indoor runner in history, may be the man to push him to it.

The meeting between the pair, watched by a capacity crowd of 8,000, could be a taster for the Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada, later this year, although Fredericks has not yet committed himself. 'The high point of my year will be graduating from university in December, then maybe the Commonwealth Games,' he said.