Athletics: Chambers closer to 10

DWAIN CHAMBERS moved into second place on the British 100 metres all-time list with the performance of his young career at the World Cup in Johannesburg last night.

Chambers warmed up in his pursuit of a Commonwealth Games medal in Kuala Lumpur next week with a time of 10.03sec as he atoned for his European Championship disappointment by grabbing third place in South Africa.

The time helped the 20-year-old leapfrog his Belgrave clubmate Darren Campbell, who had beaten him to gold in Budapest last month, on the British all-time list.

"It was real Guns of Navarone stuff out there," said Chambers, who had replaced the injured Campbell in the British team. "I had to get all my armoury and come out shooting.

"I was scared when I looked at all the guys I was up against. I was thinking: `why am I doing this race because they had run under 10 seconds, while my best this season was 10.10?'"

Chambers revelled in the 1600m altitude at the Johannesburg Stadium as he sliced 0.03 off his personal best, the world junior record of 10.06 he set last year.

Only Linford Christie has run faster (9.87sec) than Chambers, who is represented by the management company set-up by Britain's former World and Olympic champion.

The meeting with Christie-coached Campbell, if he recovers from a hamstring problem, could be one of the highlights of the Games in Malaysia.

Obadele Thompson, of Barbados, claimed the World Cup record, previously held by Ben Johnson in 9.87sec, with the second fastest run in the world this year, with Nigeria's Seun Ogunkoya third in 9.92. American Tim Harden was given fourth with the same time of Chambers, whose reaction time of 0.063 is officially illegal though they were not called back.

Marion Jones launched her challenge for a title treble this weekend with a scorching victory in the 200m that took her to second in the world all-time lists. Only fellow American Florence Griffith-Joyner has run quicker.