Christine Ohuruogu failed to appear in Birmingham last night and the festering question is whether she will make it to Barcelona. The Olympic champion has a problem with a quad muscle and fears are growing that another injury-ravaged summer could rule her out of the European Championships next month.
Ohuruogu withdrew from the Aviva European Trials and UK Championships after failing to recover from the problem that led her to miss the European Team Championships in Norway last weekend.
The official line was that it was precautionary, but it is believed that Ohuruogu will miss the Aviva British Grand Prix on July 10. With the European Championships taking place only a fortnight later, she is now facing a race against time to be fit.
Last year she gamely went to Berlin to defend her world title, although she knew she was not in the shape to win after a tear in her thigh.
Reflecting on that, she told The Times: “This sport sucks. You train all year for something and then, for one reason or another, it does not come together.” Now it seems she has been cursed by a fresh injury woe.
Advertisement
Her case is certainly more serious than that of Jessica Ennis, the world heptathlon champion, who pulled out of another weekend’s multitasking after suffering a dizzy spell on Thursday. She has been told to take three days off, but her place in the team for Barcelona is already assured and she should be back training next week.
Of those who did turn up in Birmingham, Dwain Chambers looked in fine fettle, breezing through the opening heat of his 100 metres in a comfortable 10.18sec.
Having dipped under the 10-second barrier at the European Team Championships last weekend, defeating the much-hyped Frenchman, Christophe Lemaître, in the process, Chambers is the odds-on favourite to add the UK title today and the European version next month.
The next best of the qualifiers was James Dasaolu in 10.39, with the usual suspects, Mark Lewis-Francis, Christian Malcolm and Craig Pickering, among the others to make it through.
“There’s a lot to live up to after last week and I’m just going to take my time,” Chambers said. “My aim is just to qualify but if I get rewarded with a sub-10 that’s a bonus.”
Advertisement
Some titles were decided last night, with Laura Samuel winning the triple jump and James Campbell the javelin, while the big guns in the hotly contested women’s 800 metres, Jenny Meadows, Jemma Simpson and Marilyn Okoro, all made it through to the semi-finals today.