Athletics: Campbell given chance of 100m place

The performance of the Olympic 200 metres silver medallist Darren Campbell will be closely scrutinised by the UK Athletics performance director Max Jones in Hengelo this weekend.

With next month's European Cup on the horizon, Jones has not ruled out the possibility of the selectors picking Campbell for the 100m, the distance which he is contesting at the Thales FBK Games in the Dutch city tomorrow. The European champion, Dwain Chambers, and the former world junior title holder, Mark Lewis-Francis, are favourites for the place in the 100m in Florence.

Although Jones admitted those two seem the most likely to be chosen for the annual meeting on 21 and 22 June, he added that Campbell, the winner of the Cup 100m three years ago and the European gold medallist over the shorter distance in 1998, is also on the shortlist along with the European Indoor 60m champion, Jason Gardener. "Neither Campbell nor Gardener should be ruled out," Jones said. "Darren's always keen to run in the European Cup and we will be fair to everybody."

Chambers and Lewis-Francis will go head-to-head at next month's Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava, it was announced yesterday. The rivals will meet at the Czech Republic's IAAF Grand Prix meeting on 12 June for the first time since they suffered disappointment in last July's Commonwealth Games.

The St Kitts and Nevis sprinter, Kim Collins, who beat Chambers last Saturday in Eugene and convincingly defeated the Olympic champion Maurice Greene earlier in May, is also in the field.