Modahl verdict might upstage main attraction

Mike Rowbottom on two major issues to be settled in Cape Town this weekend

British athletic interest centres on Cape Town this weekend, where the International Amateur Athletic Federation council will discuss Diane Modahl's future in the sport the day after tomorrow's World Cross-country Championships in nearby Stellenbosch.

Modahl, who is currently training in Albuquerque, has this week received assurances from the IAAF that they will take into account further scientific evidence established since she had a four-year doping ban lifted on appeal by the British Athletic Federation last September.

Britain's only realistic hope for an individual medal at the championships, Paula Radcliffe, has seen her prospects diminish in the last fortnight as injury and illness have disrupted her preparations.

The 1992 world junior cross-country champion has missed nearly a week's training following a fall in her last race, and a bout of food poisoning this week has hardly helped. "I don't know how well I'm going to run," she said. "All I know is it won't be as well as I would have hoped."

Derartu Tulu, of Ethiopia, is set on retaining the title she won in Durham last year, with two Kenyans - Sally Barsosio and Rose Cheruyiot - her most likely challengers.

The men's race sees Haile Gebreselassie, who has already broken two world indoor records this season, leading the Ethiopian challenge against the Kenyans, who have won the men's team event since 1986.

Kenya's Paul Tergat is confident, nevertheless, that he will defend his individual title. Tergat, who has set his sights on beating compatriot John Ngugi's record of five world titles, said yesterday: "Defending the world championships is a foregone conclusion."

The British men's team, with their new manager, Dave Clarke, have travelled in the hope of gaining a team medal, something they last did in 1992 when Clarke himself helped earn a bronze.

Clarke is now hoping that the likes of Andrew Pearson, Keith Cullen and the Commonwealth 10,000 metres champion, Rob Denmark, together with "a little bit of magic", can make an impression on a fearsomely strong field in which Portugal and Spain look most likely to impinge upon the normal African domination.

IAAF Council members are expected either to clear Modahl to run - upholding the BAF appeal panel's decision - or refer the case to an arbitration panel.

Modahl's case that faulty handling and storage of her urine sample by a Lisbon laboratory caused the huge testosterone levels found in her original test - a case that convinced the BAF panel - has been strengthened by two pieces of new scientific work since her appeal.

Professor Simon Gaskell, from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, has involved samples from Modahl herself in tests showing that overheated storage conditions can lead to dramatic increases in testosterone outside the body.

And Professor Rod Bilton, of Liverpool's John Moores University, has proved that in non-sterile samples, testosterone levels can rise and fall, undermining accurate and reliable drug testing.

Modahl said: "The case against me was always weak. It should never have been brought in the first place. This new evidence should put the matter beyond any doubt."