Athletics: Baulch sets sights on beating a legend
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Jamie Baulch believes that the American 400m legend and Olympic champion, Michael Johnson, can be toppled by the hungry new breed of British one-lap runners.
Baulch coasted to victory in the rarely-run 300m at the Welsh Games in Cardiff on Saturday, then set his sights on facing Johnson in Sheffield later this month: "I am going to be ready for that race, especially with it being in front of a British crowd," said the 23-year-old Welshman. "With Michael and Roger Black racing and all the rest of us there, it is going to be dog eat dog that day.
"If Frankie [Fredericks] can beat Michael over 200m then there is no reason why someone can't do it over 400m, especially if he [Johnson] is not running very well."
Baulch, who won a silver medal at the world indoors last March, easily saw off one of his rivals, Mark Hylton, to win in a Welsh best of 32.06sec.
Scotland's Ian Mackie also ran a Games best in the 150m, but fell agonisingly short of Linford Christie's British record of 14.97 by two-hundredths of a second and admitted that was his fault for not running flat-out to the finishing line. "If I'd known I was close to the record I wouldn't have eased up. I'm a bit gutted," he said. "But I thought I had run through the tape.
"But Colin [Jackson] told me afterwards that I'd eased off. It must be an automatic thing. I just relaxed too much."
Fredericks was due to run the 150m as a favour to Jackson, his training partner. But he was forced to withdraw after his national federation told him he would be in a "sticky situation" if he ran in Europe on the same weekend as the Namibian trials were being held - implying selection for Athens could be at risk.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments