Athletics: Boldon backing for British starlet
Mark Lewis-Francis has been told to forget about the biggest disappointment of his meteoric sprint career and go out and have fun in the rest of the world championships.
The 18-year-old broke down in tears last night after seeing his hopes of challenging for a glorious medal in Edmonton unexpectedly ended when he failed to qualify for the 100 metres final.
Lewis-Francis understandably showed his emotions after finishing fifth in his semi but Trinidad’s multi-medalled Ato Boldon offered words of encouragement while he was given a consoling hug by Emanuel Hudson, manager of sprint champion Maurice Greene.
‘‘I had a word with him after he broke down and cried,’’ said Boldon, who had qualified from the same semi along with American Greene. ‘‘I just told him from one World Junior Champion to another that this thing we call track and field is drag racing.
‘‘You are not as bad as your last race and not necessarily as good. I told him to go out and have fun in the relay and let this be his motivation.
‘‘I would like to see Mark become a great athlete and I am sure he will.’’
Lewis-Francis had clocked an astounding 9.97 secs in the second round the day before but it will not stand as a world junior record because the wind-gauge malfunctioned and no wind readings were recorded.
The time was 0.09 secs quicker than the record set by team-mate Dwain Chambers and 0.13 quicker than Lewis-Francis’ previous best.
The whoop of delight the Birmingham youngster afforded himself as he qualified for the semi turned to disappointment as he missed out on a final spot in his first senior major championships.
The 18-year-old’s lack of experience eventually told as he was put-off by a slow start having been called back after a much-better getaway when Boldon beat the gun, though the former world 200m champion complained of poor officiating afterwards.
Lewis-Francis was unable to recover and finished fifth, losing out on the final automatic qualifying slot to Ghana’s Abdul Zakari.
‘‘I am very disappointed as I didn’t run as well as I know I can,’’ said Lewis-Francis, after finishing in 10.26 secs. ‘‘I didn’t get a good start and I thought about it a bit too much.’’
Coach Steve Platt said: ‘‘It is all part of the learning curve for Mark. Obviously we are disappointed about him not making the final.
‘‘But we are especially upset that his World Junior record time will not be ratified everyone knows that was legal.
‘‘At least that is a positive that he can take away from these championships.’’
