Tomlinson back to the long jump board

Sep 1 2009 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

CHRIS Tomlinson admitted he may have to go back to the drawing board after a disappointing day for North East athletes at the Gateshead Grand Prix.

This despite the Nunthorpe long-jumper having one of the most consistent years of an injury-blighted career.

The 27-year-old finished fifth in front of his home crowd in yesterday’s long jump. But it was not so much his finishing position as his failure to clear eight metres which frustrated Tomlinson.

At an age where he needs to improve to peak at the 2012 Olympics, the Teessider admits he – and the rest of the field – are a long way behind three-time world champion Dwight Phillips.

“I’ve been in 10 or 11 competitions where I’ve gone over 8m, I made a world final and finished where I’d probably expect to,” he reflected. “It’s just a shame I haven’t been able to catch an 8.42m or an 8.45m.

“But you’ve got to look to the future and I’ve got to find a way to get up there with Dwight. At the moment he’s a class apart. I’ll be looking at a couple of things over the winter – who knows, I might try a hitch kick.”

Tomlinson’s first jump of 7.80m put him into an early lead he extended by 13cm with his next attempt. But minutes later Phillips leapt 8.39m to end the competition as a contest. Of the three jumps beyond 8m, two were Phillips’ only legitimate attempts.

Vicky Barr felt worn out after running in her first World Championships. She started the 400m strongly, but faded after the bend, coming sixth in 53.80.

“I put so much into the worlds and I just felt really tired when I was running,” she said. “With 150m to go I didn’t think I was going to make the finish line.”

The timetable hardly helped with the race coming so soon after Berlin, but Barr saw that as a good thing, and would like to get back on to the track again soon.

“It’s a good meet straight after the World Championships,” she argued.

“You will have a dip in performances but everyone’s up for it. I’d like to race again because I feel I’m just getting the cobwebs out of my legs after the worlds.”