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Benjamin targeting 400m glory

09/08/2006

Britain are on the medal table at the 19th European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg but will day three see their tally grow?

Portugal's Francis Obikwelu scorched to 100m gold in the men's sprint yesterday and today sees the women speedsters take centre stage.

Belgian ace Kim Gevaert was fastest through the rounds with a time of 11.19secs and she starts as favourite but Britain do have a major hope in the shape of Joice Maduaka.

The revitalised Maduaka was second quickest in qualifying and could pose a serious threat to Gevaert if she gets out the blocks smoothly.

She isn't the only Brit in contention: Anyika Onuora and Emma Ania also looked in decent form through the first rounds and will be desperate to follow Maduaka's lead.

Other names in the hunt for a podium place include French star Sylviane Felix and Russian trio Yekaterina Grigoryeva, Yuliya Gushchina and Irina Khabarova.

And then there is Merlene Ottey, the 45-year-old Jamaican sprint legend now running for Slovenia, who is featuring in heat two. Can she turn back the years?

The other major event of today will be the final of the men's 400m, the final event of the day, which will see Britain's Tim Benjamin flying the union jack.

Benjamin scraped into the final with a time of 45.67secs in the semis but will need to up that considerably if he is to challenge French favourite Marc Raquil.

Russian star Vladislav Frolov and another Frenchman, Leslie Djhone, will also be in contention for a medal.

Other finals today include that of the women's 400m hurdles, 20km walk and triple jump, plus the men's high jump, javelin and 1500m.

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