Athletics: Edwards prepared for title defence despite ankle blow

Despite leaving Crystal Palace on Friday night on a stretcher with an ankle injury after tripping on a piece of concrete next to the triple jump runway, Jonathan Edwards is looking forward to defending his World Championships title in Paris later this month.

A hospital scan showed he had not broken any bones in his right foot, and he said: "Like many things it looked worse than it actually was."

Edwards has pulled out of the Zurich Golden League meeting on Friday as a precautionary measure. but he added: "Now I will have to see how it responds in training next week."

Maria Mutola remained the only athlete in contention for the Golden League's $1m jackpot with a commanding win in the women's 800 metres in Berlin yesterday.

The Olympic and world champion, undefeated this year over two laps, had earlier seen Bahamian Chandra Sturrup drop out of the running for a share of the prize for athletes with victories in all six events in the showcase series.

Sturrup was beaten into third place in the women's 100 metres by American champion Kelli White, who confirmed her status as a favourite for the title at the world championships in Paris which start on 23 August.

A determined drive to the line took White to a wind-assisted 10.84 seconds victory - her second in three days after winning in London on Friday.

White recovered from a poor start to narrowly outsprint fellow American Chryste Gaines and Sturrup on a baking hot day in the German capital.

Gaines, second behind White at Crystal Palace, led until halfway but could not resist White's surge in the final metres and had to settle for second place in 10.86. Sturrup finished a close third in 10.88.

Making the most of the absence of Olympic champion Marion Jones, who is on maternity leave, Sturrup had won the 100 metres at the previous three Golden League meetings in Oslo, Paris and Rome.

Gulnara Samitova broke the women's world 3,000-meter steeplechase in Tula yesterday in a time of 9 minutes, 8.33 seconds. Her run at the Russian national championships broke the record of 9:16.51 set by Alesya Turova of Belarus last year in Gdansk. It was the second world record to fall at the championships in three days after Yulia Pechyonkina beat Kim Batten's women's 400 metres hurdles mark on Friday.