Athletics: Chambers confronts Greene as quickest combine

BRITAIN'S LEADING sprinters of the moment, Jason Gardener and Dwain Chambers, will be able to measure their progress in world terms in Stockholm tonight as they take part in a 100 metres event that includes America's world record holder Maurice Greene and the world 200m champion Ato Boldon, writes Mike Rowbottom.

The British pair are among nine sprinters in the field who have bettered 10 seconds for the event. Gardener, who achieved his best of 9.98sec chasing Greene home in the Lausanne meeting earlier this month, will hope to maintain a consistent run of form which saw him take the domestic title in Birmingham last Saturday in a wind-assisted time of 10.02sec.

For Chambers, who recorded 9.99sec in Nuremberg two months ago, tonight's race in the IAAF Grand Prix meeting will be the first time he has competed against Greene.

While hopes are buoyant that Britain may be able to challenge for the 4x100m gold at next month's world championships in Seville, there is only an outside chance that Gardener, Chambers or the European champion, Darren Campbell, will be able to reach the podium in the individual event. But tonight's action in the 1912 Olympic Stadium will clarify where British sprinters stand in comparison to the best.

Mark Richardson, who pulled out of the 400m final at the CGU World Trials as a precaution to safeguard a niggling problem behind his right knee, will be looking for a reassuring performance in the 400m, in which he faces a field that includes the world and Olympic champion, Michael Johnson.

Johnson's agent, the former world record holder in the 110m hurdles, Renaldo Nehemiah, said he was planning to break the stadium record of 44.67 held by fellow American Anthuan Maybank.

Colin Jackson faces a 110m hurdles field which includes leading Americans Mark Crear and Larry Wade, while in the men's javelin Steve Backley and Mick Hill take on, among others, the 1999 world leader Aki Parviainen of Finland (93.09m) and South Africa's 1997 world champion, Marius Corbett.

There will be world record attempts from Kenya's Paul Tergat in the 10,000m and his fellow countryman Noah Ngeny in the 2,000m.