Bobsledder runs joint-third fastest 100m by a British man

LONDON (Reuters) – Great Britain bobsledder Joel Fearon ran the joint-third fastest 100 meters by a British male when he won the sprint final at the English Athletics Championships in Bedford on Saturday.

The 27-year-old Birchfield Harrier’s time of 9.96 seconds was the quickest time by a British sprinter this year.

The only Britons to have ever run faster are Linford Christie and James Dasaolu.

“I just wanted to consolidate my 10.04 from two weeks ago,” Fearon was quoted as saying on the England Athletics official website (www.englandathletics.org).

He is not, however, competing at the Rio Olympics, with Dasaolu, Chijindu Ujah, who has also run a personal best of 9.96, and James Ellington having been selected.

Fearon has combined sprinting with bobsleigh for the past five years, winning a silver medal in the four-man event at the European Championships in 2014. He was also in the team that finished fifth at that year’s Winter Olympics.

Fearon told Athletics Weekly after Saturday’s race that his focus was on achieving his bobsleigh ambitions at the 2018 Winter Games but did not rule out trying to qualify for the athletics world championships in London next year.

“It’s a year before our Olympics so it’s up to (British Bobsleigh),” he said. “I’m their athlete so if they give me the freedom to go out and run, and if I’m in a position where I could make it (the worlds), they’ll allow me to go and do it.

“I’ll work with the bobsleigh guys and see what we can put together. My focus is really on the bobsleigh at the Winter Olympics. We missed out on a medal in Sochi so I’m very focused on going and redeeming that and hopefully getting that medal that we should have got, and getting it on the day.”

The Coventry-born athlete was in Great Britain’s 4x100m relay squad at the 2013 world championships but did not compete.

He is the seventh British man to post an official sub-10 seconds time for the 100.

“I’m really just happy to be out running,” he added. “Michael Khmel, my coach, has really brought me back into some good form. I’ve had a lot of support from bobsleigh to go out and run and help towards my dreams of what I want to achieve in life. I’m very, very happy with the way things have gone.”

(Writing by Ken Ferris; editing by Toby Davis)