Athletics: Malachi's passport to California dreaming

Britain's newest recruit on the track is in a hurry to make the plane to Athens.

British athletics found itself with a new star on its hands yesterday - a starred and striped star. Until 2pm on Thursday, West Coast time, Malachi Davis was a United States citizen and athlete. That was before a British passport arrived at the door of his home in Sacramento. Within four hours he was on a flight to London. And yesterday lunchtime, just 24 hours after setting foot on British soil for the first time, the 28-year-old eased to victory in the opening heat of the men's 400m in the Norwich Union Olympic Trials and AAA Championships at the Manchester Regional Arena.

British athletics found itself with a new star on its hands yesterday - a starred and striped star. Until 2pm on Thursday, West Coast time, Malachi Davis was a United States citizen and athlete. That was before a British passport arrived at the door of his home in Sacramento. Within four hours he was on a flight to London. And yesterday lunchtime, just 24 hours after setting foot on British soil for the first time, the 28-year-old eased to victory in the opening heat of the men's 400m in the Norwich Union Olympic Trials and AAA Championships at the Manchester Regional Arena.

A place in the British team for Athens suddenly beckons the Californian - all thanks to the good fortune that his mother, Eva Gordon, hails from London. Davis has an A standard Olympic qualifying time, having clocked 45.52sec in Tuscon in May. And if he can continue to keep the jet-lag at bay, and finish in the first two in this afternoon's final, his Olympic selection will be assured. Which is what it most definitely would not have been had he stayed at home and competed in the US Olympic trials instead.

Ranked 26th in his homeland, Davis did not have to think long and hard when Felix Sanchez, the 400m hurdles world champion, suggested that he explored his British qualification. Sanchez himself made a similar move five years ago. He was born in New York and settled in Los Angeles but, after placing sixth in the US Championships in 1999, chose to compete for the land of his parents to gain selection for major championships. Representing the Dominican Republic, he ran in the heats at the World Championships that year, reached the semi-finals at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and then won the world title in 2001 and 2003.

It would be expecting a lot for Davis, a member of the Bush Track Club in Los Angeles, to make a similar impact as a British athlete. For the time being, he is ranked No 3 in his new country, behind Daniel Caines and Tim Benjamin, who will be keen to keep a step ahead of him in this afternoon's final. With Sanchez's 400m hurdles rival Chris Rawlinson also in the equation, though, Davis could be the missing link in a 4 x 400m relay of medal-winning potential.

"It was Felix who suggested I should look into coming over here," Davis said. "He said international competition would be better for me and I started investigating it all about a month and a half ago.

"It's been a hectic time. My passport arrived by Fed-Ex at 2pm on Thursday. I'm still adjusting to the time difference, but it's great to be here. I went to a meet in Vancouver two weeks ago. Apart from that, this is my first time out of the United States.

"Anyone who does sport wants to be at the highest level - the Olympics, the World Series, the Super Bowl. So when this chance became a reality for me I jumped at it."

Even the miserable Manchester weather failed to dampen Davis's spirits. "When I stepped out of the airport terminal the wind hit me," he said. "I have never even trained in cold like this, but it's the jet-lag I am worried about. I just hope it doesn't hit me."

The only disorientation Davis was suffering from yesterday was attempting to identify his new rivals. "I'm trying to recognise all the faces," he said. "I've been on the internet. I know who Daniel Caines and Jamie Baulch are."

Baulch, the former world indoor champion, was one of the familiar British 400m faces who failed to make it through to the final - Iwan Thomas, Duaine Ladejo and Ian Mackie also went out in the heats. Baulch finished third in the opening race, behind Davis, who strode to victory in 46.10sec.

"I'm not bitter," Baulch said, when asked about being pushed down the domestic order by the new arrival from Sacramento, "but I know others who are. We should have been told about it."

Not that Caines, the British No 1, was complaining. "It's nice to have Malachi here," he said. "It will boost the rest of us. It's good for the sport. It would be nice for him to go and beat the Yanks. That would be fun, wouldn't it?"