Athletics: Condon proves point with indoor trials sprint victory

Allyn Condon, amply motivated by a sense of glaring injustice, provided an awkward finale yesterday to a weekend of trials at the National Indoor Arena for the World Indoor Championships, which were undermined by an equally glaring absence of Britain's leading athletes.

Condon, a veteran of British sprint relay running over the last decade, is instigating legal action against UK Athletics following last September's decision to revoke his Lottery funding in the wake of his walk-out at the European Championships. He earned his place at the global event which will take place at the same venue in a fortnight's time by winning the 200m in 20.69sec, a time bettered by only one Briton this year, Marlon Devonish, one of the many absentees.

With only two places on offer per event, his absence effectively left just one place open, and Condon's task was made easier by the injuries suffered yesterday by his rivals Julian Golding, who had to pull out after clocking 20.76sec in his heat, and the world indoor bronze medallist Christian Malcolm, who failed to start after clocking 20.74sec in his semi-final.

Condon ran despite a hamstring strain incurred while running at Cardiff three weeks earlier. "I haven't trained since then, but I haven't been able to afford any treatment on it,'' he said, before readily agreeing he had been a man on a mission here. "I don't think it was even so much the Lottery funding. It was for myself today, and for my dad, because we have been through some hard times over the last two years.''

Condon's own personal trial began in August 2001 when he collapsed after a British League meeting and had to be rushed into intensive care. He had suffered kidney failure as a complication of a heart virus, myocarditis, and one medical expert told him he would never run again. Condon battled back into international contention within a year and was called up for the sprint relay team at last summer's European Championships in Munich. But he left the team after being told by Britain's chief coach, Max Jones, he would not get a run in either the heats or the final.

"UK Athletics basically shat on me,'' he said. "If I had been in any other walk of life I'd have walked away a lot earlier, but I was doing something I always wanted to do.''

The men's 200m apart, Britain's selectors have a relatively easy task today after an underwhelming weekend on which only five events contained more than two athletes with world qualifying times.

The competitive high point was Saturday's 60m final in which Mark Lewis-Francis earned his place by finishing 0.01sec ahead of the European outdoor champion, Dwain Chambers. The 20-year-old will be joined by the man who has led Britain's rankings this year, Jason Gardener, who did not race here.

The UK Athletics chief executive, Dave Moorcroft, voiced doubts over the event's title, saying: "Perhaps we have to think about the use of the word 'trials' in future.'' But Jonestook a more pragmatic view, commenting: "If we force athletes to come here, it may affect their chances in a fortnight.''

Yesterday's competitive highlights included an 800m victory by Jo Fenn in 1min 59.74sec, half a second outside Kelly Holmes's British record, and a 400m victory in 45.93sec by the Australian Daniel Batman, who looks a likely challenger to Britain's champion Daniel Caines, who is nursing a knee problem. Jamie Boulch, world indoor champion in 1999, looks certain to get the nod alongside Caines following the failure of any other Briton to achieve the qualifying mark of 46.90sec.