Athletics: Gold hopes for Edwards despite pain

JONATHAN EDWARDS sets out today in pursuit of a second world triple jump title certain of only one result: pain.

Speaking on the eve of his qualifying competition, Britain's 33-year- old world record holder, said that the foot injury which has hampered his season, had recovered to the point where it no longer hurt him - that is, until he competed. "It only hurts when I jump," he said with a rueful grin.

Edwards has not jumped at all since his last competition - at the CGU British Grand Prix on 7 August - where he finished feeling "sore". He arrived here yesterday, after a week's training in the Czech Republic, where he has been working on and off throughout the last year with Jan Posposil, coach to the world and Olympic javelin champion, Jan Zelezny.

Edwards' training routines, in a group that has also featured British javelin throwers, Steve Backley and Mick Hill, have involved a number of unusual activities, including roller-blading around a track in order to work on the body's balance.

But his most recent preparations under Posposil's watchful eye, have been far more routine - weights and sprinting drills, but no actual jumps.

Two years ago, at the World Championships in Athens, Edwards was angry with himself after being beaten to the gold by Cuba's Yoelvis Quesada. But he recovered his moral last season with an outstanding performance to win the European title before succumbing to a heel problem that required an operation.

Quesada, will be one of his main rivals here, along with Dennis Capustin of Russia, who defeated him at the European Cup, in Paris, two months ago. But Edwards is here to regain the property he claimed with such startling effect at the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg, where he set the current world record of 18.29 metres.

Nobody - Edwards included - has approached such levels of performance since then, but he said yesterday, that a spectacular series of marks were in prospect in Wednesday's final. Because their event is not on the IAAF Golden League programme this year, most triple-jumpers have found big competitive opportunities few and far between.

"It has been a low-key season for us so far," he said. "So I think you will see the majority of the world's best marks being set here."

Despite his continuing problems, Edwards is hopeful that he can re-establish himself as the world's number one. "I would like to regain my world title," he said. "I'm getting towards the end of my career and I know there are not too many more opportunities for me."

Meanwhile Steve Smith, who left Saturday's high jump qualifying nursing a partially torn Achilles tendon, is hanging on defiantly to the last vestige of his own opportunity here.

The 26-year-old Liverpudlian, who qualified for today's final with a first clearance of 2.26m, was expected to pull out yesterday, but he may now attempt to take part by risking a late entrance to the competition and hoping to clear one or two significant marks.

Smith, who missed last season after suffering a severe neck injury, leads this year's world standings with the 2.36m he recorded in Gateshead last month. Another such performance could earn him a medal in what is an unusually open competition - but it could be a hugely tall, and potentially calamitous order.