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Britain suffered their worst performance in a major global championships for
25 years when they brought their eighth worlds campaign to an end in Edmonton
tonight with just two medals.
The total was just one more than from the Montreal Olympics in 1976, when
Brendan Foster was the only athletics medallist.
The triple jump gold won by Jonathan Edwards ensured there was no repeat of
Athens in 1997 when no Brit took a title.
But the total - Dean Macey won bronze in the decathlon - was Britain's worst
haul of the eight championships - three less than the five won in Gothenburg in
1995 when Edwards again claimed the solitary gold.
If it has not been for Edwards, who came perilously close to not qualifying
for the final, then Britain, who finished equal 18th with Australia, would have
been ranked with the likes of Haiti, Kazakhstan and the St Kitts and Nevis
Islands, who all won a bronze.
"Thank goodness we got the gold from Jonathan," said David Moorcroft, chief
executive of UK Athletics, who saw the squad slip from the heady heights of last
year's Olympics, when six medals were won including golds though Edwards and
Denise Lewis.
"Its disappointing that so many of our athletes were injured and were not
able to be here," added Moorcroft. "Of the six medals we got in Sydney three
of those were not able to compete, which is a huge blow.
"But the French only got a couple of medals and Germany have not had an
outstanding championship. Loads of people have been complaining about
post-Olympic blues and that has been a factor although we are not using it as an
excuse.
"The Olympics were late. The huge amount of work athletes would have done to
get to the Olympics took them close to breaking point and for some of them
training again this year they have broken down."
Kelly Holmes, who had bravely battled her way to bronze in Sydney, was
Britain's last serious medal hope on the final day.
But the former army sergeant could not respond to the call to arms this time
as she finished sixth in the 800m in the Commonwealth Stadium.
Holmes, whose training was strictly regimented after she fell victim to a form
of glandular fever and chronic fatigue syndrome, faded in the home straight to
finish in one minute 59.76 seconds.
"After the year I have hard, I have to be happy with reaching the final,"
said Holmes. "I gave it 100and I got myself into the right position but I
just did not have anything left in me.
"Because of last year, people's expectations were high but it needed a
miracle to happen and one didn't. But it was a fantastic race."
It certainly was as Olympic champion Maria Mutola regained her world title
after snatching victory in the final metres from Austria's Stephanie Graf with
Letitia Vriesde of Surinam winning bronze.
Mutola regained the title she won in Stuttgart eight years ago with a stunning
burst from third place to overhaul Vriesde, who had led for the first 700m,
before just catching great rival Graf on the line.
The Mozambiquan won by just 0.03secs in 1:57.17 with Vriesde, 36, clocking
1:57.30.
Britain's Mick Hill finished 12th - and last - in the men's javelin final
having defied an Achilles problem to qualify while Steve Backley crashed out
last Friday.
The Leeds veteran, who was competing in his sixth world final, produced a
first round effort of 77.81m, but fouled with his next two attempts to go out of
the competition.
Olympic champion Jan Zelezny, who responded to an Olympic record throw by
Backley in Sydney with an even better effort to take the gold, did it again to
claim his third world title and first since 1995.
The Czech with the golden arm, who had qualified with a championship record of
90.76m, saw defending champion Aki Parviainen of Finland open up with a throw of
91.31m.
But Zelezny produced a monster response in the next round with the javelin
finally coming back down to earth at 92.80m. Greek Konstadinos Gatsioudis was
third with a throw of 89.95m.
Britain's women - Lee McConnell, Helen Frost, Natasha Danvers and Catherine
Murphy - finished fifth in the 4x400m relay in a season's best of 3:26.94 as
Jamaica benefited from a dropped baton by the Americans to win in 3:20.65.
The men - Iwan Thomas, Jamie Baulch, Tim Benjamin and Mark Richardson -
finished sixth as the United States triumphed.
The American's brought the championships to a climax with gold in the 4x100m
relay in 37.96secs with South Africa second (38.47) and Trinidad & Tobago third
in 38.58. Britain's sprinters could only watch from the stands after crashing
out on Saturday.
Elsewhere, Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj partly atoned for his Olympic misery by claiming
his third world 1,500m crown in emphatic fashion.
The world record holder, who unexpectedly missed out on the Olympic crown he
craved when beaten by Kenya's Noah Ngeny - who was not sent to these
championships - never looked like suffering a repeat.
The 26-year-old could afford to kiss his gold chain in delight in the home
straight to win in 3:30.68 with Kenya's Bernard Lagat second (3:31.10) and Driss
Maazouzi of France third in a season's best 3:31.54.
South African Hestrie Cloete took gold in the women's high jump on countback
from defending champion Inha Babakova.
Both jumpers cleared 2.00m but three failures by the Ukrainian as opposed to
just one by Cloete ensured the 22-year-old took the title.
Sweden's Kajsa Bergqvist, who cleared 1.97, took bronze.
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