Athletics: Home to the quiet life

THE DAY after Sally Gunnell had claimed the world 400 metres hurdles title, someone asked her if she wanted to face the silver medallist, Sandra Farmer-Patrick, at today's McDonald's Games in Sheffield. She pulled a face. 'No thank you,' she said, shifting the limbs which had taken her to a world record the previous evening. 'I want a nice, easy race please.'

She is not alone in that respect. For Britain's world championship performers the Sheffield meeting provides an opportunity to greet the British public - just as it did after last summer's Olympics. The artful engineering of the meeting promoter, Andy Norman, will ensure that the spectacle of weary Britons being beaten is not one that appears on the nation's television screens with any regularity.

That weariness was clearly evident at the Berlin grand prix on Friday night. Gunnell, sensibly, pulled out. Britain's two other world champions, Linford Christie and Colin Jackson, finished third in the 100 metres and 110 metres hurdles respectively.

For all Jackson's talk of wanting to extend his unbeaten run this season, he was unable to draw away from his training partner, Mark McKoy, after getting back on terms with him halfway through the race, and he had no response to the late run which saw the world bronze medallist, Jack Pierce, through to victory.

Christie spoke afterwards about having a slow start, but his characteristic surge from 60 metres lacked its usual power, as Leroy Burrell of the United States held on to defeat him for the second time this season.

When asked if he would have liked Burrell to have been in the World Championship final - the American failed to qualify at his national trials - Christie pointedly declined to comment. He has proved his point enough times against US sprinters this season.

If the outstanding performance of the meeting was Noureddine Morceli's mile victory in 3 min 46.78 sec, the third fastest ever run behind the African record of 3:46.76 held by Said Aouita and the world record of 3:46.32 held by Steve Cram, the second best came in the 400 metres.

On a chill evening, Michael Johnson's time of 43.94 sec was remarkable. If the weather in Sheffield, where the world champion is due to compete, is good, his own British Allcomers' record of 43.98 sec will be under threat.

Another American world champion, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, will be at Sheffield today. The heptathlon gold medallist from Stuttgart, who beat the world long jump champion, Heike Drechsler, in Berlin, extends her competitive range yet further with an experimental run against Gunnell in the 400 metres hurdles.