Athletics: Jackson finds profit from narrow defeat by Wignall

Colin Jackson may have unexpectedly lost over his world record 60 metres hurdles distance in Dortmund last night, but he insists it was preparation for next month's world indoor championships.

The Welshman opened his season last Friday in Erfurt where Maurice Wignall matched him all the way to a tied finish. Last night, as Jackson started slowly, and Wignall established a lead which neither the Welshman nor the European indoor silver medallist Elmar Lichtenegger was able to claw back. The Jamaican won in 7.52 seconds, with Jackson second in 7.56 and Austria's Lichtenegger third in 7.57.

There was no doom or gloom from Jackson, who said: "I was a little pedestrian coming out of the blocks. But there are pluses from the poor start. It gave me the kind of practice I might need. I had to fight back and at the finish was only one-hundredth of a second from the season's best I ran on Sunday. I'm pleased with the performance and I know there is much better to come."

Marie-Jose Perec, the former 400m Olympic champion, has announced her return to competition. The 34-year-old Frenchwoman has not raced or spoken to the media since leaving the Sydney Olympics in controversy in 2000, claiming to have received death threats on the phone in her hotel room.

"I felt that it was the right time to express myself now to allow myself to concentrate fully on my preparation for the world championships [in Paris in August]," she said.