Sprinters taking aim at Linford Christie’s 100m British record

It is one of the most prestigious and robust records in British track and field history. But shortly after tea-time on Saturday, Linford Christie’s national 100m best of 9.87sec – which has stood for 25 years – could finally be toppled.

It speaks volumes for the strength in depth of British sprinting that there are three athletes with the speed in their legs, and the fire in their bellies, at the British Championships in Birmingham.

Reece Prescod, who has run a wind-assisted 9.88sec and beat the world champion, Justin Gatlin, in May, said: “Everyone is raising their game and we have a really competitive field in Birmingham. It is probably the best ever 100m at trials. The record could definitely go on the right conditions and the right day.”

Zharnel Hughes, who ran a personal best of 9.91sec this month, is even bolder. “The crowd will be in for something spectacular,” he said. “I’m not putting any expectations on myself but records are meant to be broken.”

CJ Ujah, the reigning Diamond League 100m champion, is also gunning for Christie’s record, set in Stuttgart in 1993, as well as one of the three places on offer for the European Championships in August while Ojie Edoburun, who set a personal best of 10.04 three weeks ago, cannot be discounted.

The expectation is that Prescod, who has kicked on impressively after finishing seventh in last year’s world championships, is the man to beat. Especially as he believes his recent performances only hint at his potential. “There is no limit to speed,” he said. “I still have so much to work on, so I know I can go faster than 9.8, so in the 9.7s. It won’t happen overnight but in a few years when I have got stronger and worked on my start a lot more, I feel like anything is possible.

“If I told myself last year I would run 9.88 windy, I would have said no way, but you have to surprise yourself. Things happen.”

In the past, the 100m was the ultimate mano a mano contest, with athletes glaring and talking the talk in the call room in an attempt to unsettle their rivals. But Prescod insists that there is no animosity among the new wave of British sprinters, who realise that if they get on with each other it can enhance their chances of a 4x100m relay gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“Back in the day it was eyeballing, and who was the strongest man in the call room, but to me that is just a waste of energy,” Prescod said. “So I don’t go out there all angry. I have a little dance, set the blocks down and go. I am still young, I can’t be angry.”

Even if Christie’s record does not fall in Birmingham there is a looming sense that it is on borrowed time, especially given that Prescod, Hughes and Edoburun are only 22, while Ujah is 24.

The men’s 100m is the highlight of two days of competition that organisers hope will put British athletics back on the sporting map before next month’s World Cup – which a worryingly high number of big names are set to swerve – and the Anniversary Games a week later at the London Stadium.

Last year, the UK trials had a distinct lack of stars – Mo Farah, Greg Rutherford, Laura Muir and Katarina Johnson-Thompson were all missing – and an absence of bums on seats. To make matters worse, when Ujah broke 10 seconds for the 100m, it took 10 minutes for his time to show because of technical problems.

This time, though, most of the big names are back – although Rutherford misses out because of appendicitis and Farah has since quit the track – and UK Athletics insists that ticket sales for the two days are up.

Other highlights of the weekend include Dina Asher-Smith and Muir in the women’s 100m and 1500m respectively, while Shara Proctor and Lorraine Ugen, who finished third and fourth in the Commonwealth Games, square off in the long jump.

In a stacked men’s 1500m, Chris O’Hare is a slight favourite ahead of Jake Wightman, the NCAA champion, Josh Kerr and Charlie Grice.

In the men’s 800m, Kyle Langford, who was fourth in the world championships last year, has a stiff challenge against Elliot Giles and Andrew Osagie, who is looking to put a long run of injuries behind him since running 1min 43.77sec in the final of London 2012 and earning bronze in the world indoors in 2014.