If anyone deserved a medal, it was Jenny

Aug 21 2009 View from Berlin with Jonathan Edwards

THINGS are starting to build up nicely ahead of the weekend out here.

Steve Lewis in the pole vault and Michael Rimmer in the 800m both got through to their respective finals yesterday as the British team continue to knock on the door for more medals.

I am so pleased for Jenny Meadows, who sneaked the bronze medal in the 800m, giving the team our third podium finish. She ran a very tactically astute race, timing her final lap to perfection.

At the bell, she was way out of it as the pace was just too quick, which meant Marilyn Okoro couldn’t keep up.

But Meadows timed the final corner and home stretch to win the bronze in what was her first World global final. If any woman deserves it, she does – she’s a lovely person. Tonight we have Lisa Dobriskey running in the 1500m semi-final.

She looked good in qualifying and showed in Beijing that she is a very crafty athlete.

For someone of her calibre, she will be able to run herself into shape very quickly and let’s just hope she is showing that form at just the right time.

On the evidence of her heat, I think she has a good chance of going through to the final and then she can look to go one better than Beijing and medal. Everyone at the BBC had their eyes on Michael Bingham as he stormed into the 400m final by running a personal best.

He is managed by our colleague for the week Michael Johnson, who has been tipping him all week to run well.

I thought he showed a great deal of maturity for someone so young and relatively inexperienced. To come to these Championships and run a personal best is a great story.

There are two medallists who I know are coming to the Aviva British Grand Prix at Gateshead International Stadium on August 31. Brigitte Foster-Hylton delighted all of us here with her reaction to her victory in the hurdles. She is 34 and shocked everyone – including herself – by winning, but her reaction is what makes these meetings special.

And Tyson Gay ran a brilliant 100m against Bolt. It was because of Gay that Bolt ran so hard – he forced the Jamaican into turning on the style, which meant another world record.

He will be a great pull and hopefully the North East public will turn out to watch him because that time of 9.71 was superb – he just had superman in the next lane!

:: Tickets for the Aviva British Grand Prix at Gateshead on August 31 are available at www.uka.org.uk or on 0800 055 6056.