Athletics: Determined Tomlinson convinced he has made a great leap forward

The plan seemed simple enough. Chris Tomlinson was to use his long jump competition in Bad Langensalza, Germany, earlier this month as a step back towards full fitness following a minor heel injury. Caution was the watchword.

By the end of his gently- gently outing, however, the gangling, 6ft 6in athlete from Middlesbrough had rashly added two centimetres to the British record of 8.27 metres he set in 2002. So what went wrong? He laughingly insists that he had been sticking to instructions because, you see, he had not really been trying when he got the record.

"I was very cautious on my first jump," he said, "and it was 8.21, so I thought, 'Oh, I'm in good shape here'. Even on the 8.29 I didn't put everything into it. It didn't feel particularly like a great jump. It wasn't until my final jump that I really went for it."

So there we have it - guilty as charged. His last effort was ruled a foul by the merest tip of a toe over the line. Given that it was measured at 8.50m, however, it proved well worth the effort.

Pleasing as it was to establish a new record five years after surpassing the mark of 8.23 that had stood to Lynn Davies' credit for 34 years, the indication that he was on the brink of another breakthrough has offered Tomlinson greater cause for excitement.

But if this long-suffering follower of Middlesbrough FC stands ready to launch into world-class territory at the age of 25, so too do his main domestic rivals, Nathan Morgan and the 20-year-old Greg Rutherford. Which is why their event at this weekend's World Championship trials at the Manchester Regional Arena looks like being the most competitive on the programme.

Morgan, who beat Tomlinson to the Commonwealth title in the neighbouring City of Manchester Stadium five years ago, jumped 7.92m last Sunday week in monsoon conditions at Sheffield and has a wind-assisted 8.05m to his credit. Rutherford, who announced his talent to the wider world by winning last year's trials in a stadium record of 8.26m before going on to take the European silver medal, returned after having ankle surgery in February to record a jump of 7.95m in the Estonian capital Tallinn at the weekend.

Also in the mix will be Jonathan Moore, back to full fitness after a horrendous knee injury, who registered a windy jump of 8.04m in Salamanca, Spain, this month.

Tomlinson, who managed a waterlogged effort of 7.90m in Sheffield, registered 8.12m in Greece last Wednesday, and tomorrow night he will have his final warm-up event at the Monaco Grand Prix.

His coach, Peter Stanley, who helped to inspire Jonathan Edwards to become the world's greatest triple jumper, has instructed him to "jump smart" in Monte Carlo. This time, perhaps, Tomlinson will follow orders.

Rutherford insisted before his Tallinn outing that he was "quietly confident" he could jump far and win in Manchester. He can now afford to be a little more vocal. The youngster added that any of the Brits hoping to gain world or Olympic medals in the next couple of years need to be jumping at least 8.40m - and Tomlinson does not disagree.

"A jump of 8.29m would get maybe a bronze at the worlds or the Olympics," he said. "8.50m could win it, and I know I'm capable of that. It's exciting, but now it's just a case of me keeping my head down and preparing properly."

Touch wood, things seem to be going Tomlinson's way again after a nightmarish period in which the ability which has already earned him European Cup wins and fifth place at the 2004 Olympics has been undermined by injury problems, including a serious hernia.

Soon after he had surpassed Davies' 1968 mark - the longest-standing British record in the books - Tomlinson made a bold prediction. "I've had the record for five weeks now, but I don't think it'll last another five," he said. "I think it will be broken a few times this summer. I wouldn't like to say by whom, though."

He was quite wrong. But the assessment seemed entirely reasonable, given that he had just won the most competitive domestic long jump event ever witnessed, producing a last-round effort of 8.17m to overtake Morgan's 8.11m and the 8.03m reached by the prodigious 17-year-old Moore.

As with javelin throwers, however, the one thing you can predict about long jumpers is that they will get injured. All three athletes who performed so notably on that day at Loughborough have since been acquainted with this harsh truth - and Rutherford has merely been the latest to learn the lesson.

"For me, 2005 and 2006 weren't great years, to say the least," Tomlinson reflected. "I couldn't train properly for 18 months, but I chose not to go out and shout my mouth off about the injuries. In hindsight, maybe I should have done because people might have understood more of what I was going through.

"For some people it was as if they had kicked me on to the scrap heap. I lost all my big contracts, including my main one with Asics, and my appearance money. If it hadn't been for Lottery funding, I would have had to go out and get a job to pay the bills. Certain athletes, and I won't name names, make a lot of their injuries, but they seem to get by. I guess you live and learn.

"Some athletes now get masses of support even though they have achieved very little. Obviously, it's a 2012 thing. People start putting you on the scrap heap at 25, but anyone who knows about jumping knows that most athletes reach their peak in their late twenties and early thirties. Look at what Jonathan Edwards did."

As he trains on the Gateshead track where Edwards perfected the double-arm shuffle under Stanley's supervision, Tomlinson has had a cheery companion these last 18 months in the figure - the 6ft 8in figure - of Jadel Gregorio, the Brazilian who became the sixth-best triple jumper of all time in May with an effort of 17.90m.

A further reason to be cheerful has been the presence in his life of girlfriend Lucia Rovardi, the leading lady in the Buddy Holly musical which is due to start in the West End on 3 August - the same day Tomlinson is due to make an appearance in the South-east, at the annual Crystal Palace meeting.

Stanley, meanwhile, is more than happy with the form of his two towering charges - save for one problem. "I've got a bad neck," he said. "I'm going to sue them for being so tall."

Leap years: A short history of British long jumping

* 1968 Four years after earning the Olympic title in Tokyo, and two years after adding the European title, Lynn Davies (right) produces his longest jump in Berne, Switzerland - 8.23 metres - to establish a British record that will stand for 34 years.

* 1974 Alan Lerwill records 7.98m.

* 1980 Roy Mitchell jumps 8.08m in China.

* 1984 Daley Thompson jumps 8.01m as he wins the Olympic decathlon title in Los Angeles.

* 1989 Barrington Williams reaches 8.05m at Cosford.

* 1990 Stewart Faulkner records 8.15m in Belfast.

* 1991 Mark Forsyth of Northern Ireland jumps 8.14m.

* 1994 Fred Salle reaches 8.10m at Crystal Palace.

* 1998 Twenty-year-old Nathan Morgan takes second place in European Cup, then jumps 8.11m in Birmingham.

* May 2002 Chris Tomlinson finally usurps Davies from the top of the list by jumping 8.27m in Tallahassee.

* June 2002 Tomlinson wins Loughborough event in 8.17m, ahead of Morgan (8.11m) and Jonathan Moore (8.03m).

* July 2002 Morgan beats Tomlinson to the Commonwealth title in Manchester.

* 2003 Morgan jumps 8.26m in Hamburg.

* 2004 Tomlinson finishes fifth in Athens Olympic final.

* 2006 Nineteen-year-old Greg Rutherford - a former trialist with Aston Villa - flops in Commonwealth Games final, then recovers to win trials in 8.26m and claim European silver.

* July 2007 Tomlinson adds two centimetres to his British record with 8.29m in Bad Langensalza, Germany. Narrowly fouls at 8.50m.