Mason ready to leap in from cold

It came like a bolt from the blue to Britain's track and field selectors: a phone call from Germaine Mason on the first night of the World Championship trials in Birmingham on Friday, saying he was in Britain and ready to high jump again. It will be two years today since Mason last competed, at the DN Galan Meeting in Stockholm.

Two weeks out from the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, he suffered an ankle injury. But with a month to go before the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, the 28-year-old, who soared to a surprise Olympic bronze medal in Beijing in 2008, is ready to hit the heights again. A member of Birmingham's Birchfield Harriers, he will need a 2.31 metre clearance at the Alexander Stadium this afternoon to book his place in the British team.

Mason represented Jamaica before switching allegiance to the land of his father in 2006, and he has been training with Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell back home. He competed as a sprinter in the Kingston international meet in Jamaica in March, finishing fifth in a 200m race in 21.87sec.