Students are ready to shine

Robert Dorsett (Birmingham University) and Vicky Matthers (Plymouth College of Art and Design) are the winners of our competition to send a student reporter and photographer to cover the World Student Games in Japan this summer for the Independent. The final stage of the competition, held in conjunction with the British Universities Sports Association and Kodak, required candidates to submit reports or photographs from the athletics match between Loughborough Students and England at Loughborough on Sunday. These are the winning entries.

Japan, perhaps surprisingly, has a greater average rainfall than Britain. The drizzle-dominated atmosphere of the International Athletic Challenge, staged at Loughborough on Sunday, set the scene perfectly for the World Student Games in Japan in August.

The student-athlete hopefuls who were on trial are in no sense pretenders to the senior crowns. Most in fact have set their sights fairly firmly on the World Championships in Gothenburg as a prelude to the Student Games later the same month.

Neil Owen is just one athlete waiting to step into the limelight should Christie, Jackson et al fade into the shadows. Alongside Andy Tulloch and Paul Gray, Owen is Britain's best bet in the 110m hurdles behind Jarrett and Jackson. And at 21, he feels his best is yet to come.

"I need to improve technically if I'm to compete with the best," he said. "But my flat speed and rhythm are good, so I'm optimistic."

After seeing Owen post a time of 13.88sec, the Brtitish coaches are optimistic too. Mike Turner, the British students team manager, said: "Neil ran quicker into a headwind in Switzerland last week. He'll run better in the future than he did today."

In the women's 800m, Sonya Bowyer won a hard-fought race in a time of 2min 7.96sec. This was some three and a half seconds slower than her performance in Moscow last Monday and she will need to achieve around 2:01 to challenge in Japan.

George Gandy, Bowyer's coach and a British selector, felt such a time was not out of her reach. "She is outstandingly promising," he said. "Sonya has only been doing the 800m for two years. In another two years she could be the British No 1."

The men's high jump was a high-profile event - largely because Brendan Reilly was competing. In an otherwise weak field, Reilly cleared 2.20m. After injuring an ankle ligament indoors this year, he feels he can still compete with Steve Smith and Dalton Grant.

"I always compare myself to the best of the rest," he said. "But I don't set any limits on how high I might jump. I started well last year only to peak too early. This year I'm better prepared."

Such self-belief may be just what the British students will need in August. And no matter how wet the conditions, spirits are far from dampened.