Regis and Braithwaite join Jarrett on sidelines for European indoors

Athletics

MIKE ROWBOTTOM

Britain's European Indoor Championship team announced at noon today will not include two sprinters who represented major medal hopes - John Regis and Darren Braithwaite.

Their coach, Mike McFarlane, said the decision had been reached in the wake of Sunday night's meeting at the Stockholm track where the championships will take place. "They are not going anywhere," he said. "A lot of things have played a part."

Both have taken longer than expected to recover from the effects of the month they spent training at altitude in South Africa after Christmas. "All the running is there but they are just not snapping," McFarlane said.

Braithwaite, a 60 metres silver medallist at last year's World Indoor Championships, had hoped to better 6.60sec on Sunday. Failure to do so convinced him he is not sharp enough to do justice to himself at the championships, from 8-10 March.

Regis, who withdrew from the world indoors last year as a precaution against injury having reached the final, has had a fitful season. Despite a promising early time of 20.77 over 200m, he has two subsequent disqualifications, the last of them on Sunday night.

"He feels he's always having to check his stride, and Stockholm is a very tight track," McFarlane said. "The most important thing is to get things right for the outdoor season."

Earlier this month, Regis and Braithwaite's training partner, Tony Jarrett, a strong medal contender at 60m hurdles and the only British medallist besides Braithwaite at last year's world indoors, withdrew from the championships because of a back injury.

n Canadian Donovan Bailey's 50m indoor record of 5.56 will be submitted to the sport's governing body for ratification despite video evidence of a false start. Conclusive proof was not available because starting blocks equipped with false start detection devices were not used.