Athletics: Chambers hits seasonal peak on speed-friendly surface

Dwain Chambers has predicted that the track which has been laid, albeit temporarily, in the City of Manchester Stadium could provide next month's Commonwealth Games with sub 10-second 100 metres running, and his performance in winning Saturday's Aqua-Pura English trial there seemed to increase that likelihood.

The 24-year-old Londoner was slowing over the final 10 metres of his race, but still finished in 10.03sec, his fastest of the season, ahead of the 19-year-old Mark Lewis-Francis.

The younger man also had much to be satisfied with, having lowered his official personal best to 10.07sec, although he still thinks of his best mark as the 9.97 he was denied him at last year's World Championships by a faulty wind gauge.

With these two in such promising form, the Commonwealth 100m final is shaping up to provide a similar spectacle to the one seen in Kuala Lumpur four years ago, when Ato Boldon took gold for Trinidad & Tobago in 9.88.

"This track is seriously fast,'' said Lewis-Francis. "When the sun is shining and the wind is behind us then who knows what will happen.''

Both Chambers and Lewis- Francis expressed disappointment that this hard, Mondo track will be ripped up after the Games have finished in order for Manchester City to take over the stadium.

Although Chris Lambert's achievement in beating Jason Gardener, the European Indoor champion, to third place caused ripples of concern, his claim on the final discretionary place does not hold as he not achieved qualifying standard of 10.20sec.

The other outstanding performance of the first day came from Kelly Morgan, who established herself as favourite for the Commonwealth javelin title in breaking the British record by three and a half metres with a throw of 63.03m. No other Commonwealth athlete has beaten 60m this year.

Only two British women – the former Olympic and Commonwealth champion Tessa Sanderson and the former world champion Fatima Whitbread – have thrown further, both with the old-style javelin that was superseded by the lighter version adopted in 1999 for safety purposes.

Morgan, who will be 22 today, might have been taking part in these Commonwealth Games in another capacity – last year she was in the England development netball team and played against the world champions, Australia. But the netball and a career in the RAF have both been sacrificed in pursuit of athletic excellence.

Now working as a clerk in the Army, Morgan did not throw a javelin until January because of the shoulder injury which has troubled her intermittently since she first appeared at the World Junior Championships in 1998. She has been guided this year by John Trower, who coached Steve Backley to numerous titles, and might now have another Commonwealth winner on his hands.