Athletics: Tomlinson is cream of long jump crop

Young record-holder heads a hungry triumvirate of British prospects preparing to leap into the big-time

Life has not changed a great deal for Chris Tomlinson in the five weeks since he broke the British long-jump record. "I still do the same thing," he said. "I train hard, see my girlfriend, and live at home with my mum and dad. I still don't have an agent or a kit deal."

It remains to be seen, then, whether the Teessider will follow the same path as Charles Burgess Fry, who held the record from 1892 to 1894. He went on to captain England to an Ashes series victory as a cricketer, played right-back for the England football team, appeared in an FA Cup final for Southampton, played rugby on the wing for the Barbarians and, in his diplomatic career as a delegate to the League of Nations, turned down the chance to become king of Albania.

Life has changed for British athletics, though, since Tomlinson landed his 8.27m jump in Tallahassee, Florida on 14 April, erasing Lynn Davies' 34-year-old mark of 8.23m from the British record book. The difference was evident at the Loughborough University track yesterday. Even veteran followers of the British track and field scene could not recall the last time the men's long jump took top billing at a major televised domestic meeting. It never really happened in Davies' time, for the simple reason that the Welshman who first broke the British record in 1962 and who struck Olympic gold in Tokyo in 1964 was so much better than his domestic opponents.

The 20-year-old Tomlinson might have leapt into the ranks of the world's elite with his Tallahassee jump – he stands second in the world rankings to Savante Stringfellow of the USA – but he has two British rivals capable of making a similar breakthrough. Indeed, until his sixth and final effort in the Aqua Pura International meeting yesterday, the new British record holder was trailing behind Nathan Morgan and Jonathan Moore.

Morgan, dogged by a back problem since he jumped 8.11m as a 19-year-old four years ago, led with a third-round jump that equalled his long-time personal best, albeit with wind assistance. Moore, the 17-year-old world youth triple-jump champion, moved into second place with his sixth-round jump, 8.03m – a new British junior record. At that stage, Tomlinson – a training partner of Jonathan Edwards – was standing in third position with a best of 7.98m. It took all of his competitive drive to snatch victory. Having struggled to marry his speed on the runway with his technique off the board and through the air, the 6ft 6in Middlesbrough man pulled all three components into tighter line with his final effort, landing in the pit at 8.17m.

"I suppose the pressure was on me," Tomlinson said, "but I always believed I had that jump in me. It was just a case of focusing on myself and my technique. For some reason I was having problems with my technique that I don't have in training.

"I'll really have to look at why that was, but it was good to see Nathan and Jonathan go over 8m. I've had the record for five weeks now but I don't think it'll last another five. I think it'll be broken a few times this summer. I wouldn't like to say by whom, though – by myself, by Nathan or by Jonathan."

Certainly, Morgan believes himself capable of bettering Tomlinson's mark. "I'll be British number one again soon," he said. "No doubt about that. I really like Chris and respect him, but the future of British long jumping is myself and Jonathan." That remains to be seen. For the time being Tomlinson is in pole position, though in the long term the keen rivalry promises to be a gripping departure for British athletics after so much time in the long jumping wilderness. Morgan and Moore – the son of Aston Moore, a triple-jump bronze medallist at the Commonwealth Games of 1978 and 1982 – are both products of Birchfield Harriers.

The Birmingham club also boasts Mark Lewis-Francis among its member-ship and the 19-year-old speed merchant was in impressive form himself yesterday in his first outdoor race in Britain as a member of the senior ranks. Slow to rise from his starting blocks but quick to surge clear of his rivals, he eased across the line in 10.10sec.

It equalled the personal best the European indoor silver medallist recorded at Crystal Palace two years ago. He did stop the clock at 9.97sec in the quarter-finals at the World Championships in Edmonton last August, though the time was not deemed to be legal because the wind gauge failed to register a reading.

In the cold and wet conditions yesterday, it was a highly encouraging performance – not least because Lewis-Francis jogged directly from the track into the physiotherapy room in the pavilion. "I felt my hamstring pulling in the last 20m," he said. "That's why I slowed down. I didn't want to take any chances." As a precaution, Lewis-Francis has withdrawn from the British League match at Watford today, but he plans to race in the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, next Sunday. "It's early days," he said, with one eye on the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in July and another on August's European Championships in Munich. "There's a lot more to come."

Chris Rawlinson is also improving. The 400m hurdler is another British athlete to have impressed early in this summer season – last month he broke Ed Moses' meeting record at the Mount Sac relays in California, clocking 48.49sec. Yesterday he won in 46.13sec. "I'm amazed I'm running so fast so early in the season," the Loughborough student said.