Dilemma for selectors as Grindley withdraws

Mike Rowbottom on this weekend's British Olympic trials in Birmingham

David Grindley, the British 400 metres record holder, has pulled out of the Olympic trials which start in Birmingham today because of Achilles tendon problems.

Yesterday's announcement by the 23-year-old Wigan Harrier, who has been desperately unfortunate with injuries since breaking through to world class at the 1992 Olympics, leaves the selectors with an awkward decision over whether to leave a discretionary place open until the entry deadline of 1 July.

"We hope the selectors give David the opportunity to show his fitness and form prior to and at the meeting at Gateshead on 30 June," said Vicente Modahl, Grindley's manager. But with this year's trials - incorporated in the AAA Championships - offering automatic places to the first two in each event, Grindley's hopes are not securely founded, especially as the men's 400m is the most competitive of the whole three-day championships, given that Britain has six men who have broken 45 seconds.

That may not represent great one-lap running to Michael Johnson's manager, Brad Hunt, whose anger at the decision not to let his world champion switch from the 200 to the 400m at the Crystal Palace Grand Prix on 12 July led to the following analysis: "It's obviously an attempt to perpetuate a myth that they still have good 400m runners."

However, it is still a position of strength-in-depth unmatched in British 400m running and, even without Grindley, the competition will be intense.

Not that the 400m has the monopoly on competitiveness. Linford Christie, who may decide whether to defend his Olympic 100m title before Monday's team announcement, may not have a huge task on his hands to secure a record eighth AAA 100m title, but his friend and training partner, Colin Jackson, cannot feel similarly secure. Jackson, who is suffering from tendinitis and has lost his last four 110m hurdles races, does not look in good enough shape to hold off his perennial rival, Tony Jarrett, seeking his first AAA title.

In the 800m Curtis Robb will be seeking his third AAA title after last weekend's victory in Estonia in an Olympic qualifying time of 1min 45.73sec. Among those he beat were David Strang, the European Cup choice earlier this month, and Terry West. Those two, Andrew Lill and Craig Winrow - who lowered his personal best to 1:45.77 in Nuremburg last week - will make it hard for Robb to emulate Steve Ovett's mid-1970s record of consecutive AAA 800m victories. But the 24-year-old Liverpool Harrier appears to have timed his run into form nicely, having rediscovered some of his old zest for the event after reducing his training workload.

Meanwhile in the women's 800m Diane Modahl, who has already achieved the Olympic qualifying mark this season, looks ready to secure an appearance in Atlanta that would represent a personal triumph. It was less than three months ago that she finally freed herself of the doping suspension she had contested since the summer of 1994.

"This is my biggest race in more than two years and in many ways the last and most significant step in my return," Modahl said. "If I manage to make the British team you could say things really have gone full circle."

Sally Gunnell's main struggle in the 400m hurdles is likely to be with her stride pattern as she seeks to get back into her old rhythm in time to defend her Olympic title. But there will be a more serious confrontation in the men's 200m where Doug Turner, who lowered his best to 20.43sec last Sunday, will take on the former European champion John Regis and the talented but unpredictable pair of Solomon Wariso and Owusu Dako.