Sunday brought Channel 4 cameras live to Sheffield and they didn't disappoint with final after final the action did not stop...
First on to our screens was the Women's 400 m final. It was out on lane 6 where 27 year old Shana Cox delivered with a blistering start winning the race in 52.38 seconds ahead of fast finishing Nadine Okyere and the returning Nicola Sanders.
Coming into the Men's 400m final it looked as if we'd have a close finish for the title of the quickest in Britain however Windsor & Slough athlete Nigel Levine blew away the race with a first 200 metres of 21.7 seconds Levine strided in to take the title from defending champion Richard Buck and Michael Bingham in second. With Levine's performance so strong he could definitely cause an upset in Instanbul timing his run to perfection in lane 3.Next on track was the 60 metre mens semi final heats in what proved to cause a lot of action. In the first heat was Sale Harrier Andy Robertson who was the one to watch for me having trained with Andy for a 2 year period i know of his reaction to the gun and is only not in the bracket of Chambers due to his power in the last 40 metres in which he would be the first to admit. However Andy showed to step up the class in the first heat not even mentioned by the commentators beforehand cruised past the likes of Lewis Francis and Williamson to take the first heat in 6.64 a new personal best and hopefully create a stir in british athletics. Whilst the illustrious Chambers eased through his heat with the same time definitely looking the one to beat driving through and almost finishing with a jog, he showed how much he will be missed come the summer due to his ban.
With Jenny Meadows missing in the 800 metres, Marilyn Okoro stood up to the mantel with a 59 second 400 metre although she tightened up near the end of the race but took the title in 2.04 just missing out on the 2 minutes three standard needed for Istanbul. Whilst Hannah England showed she has the stamina taking the 3,000 metre crown in 9 minutes and 6 seconds.
The stand out performance came from welshman Joe Thomas, having already got the qualifying time for the world indoors it was all his own race come the final, he lead throughout hammering the stadium record and sprinting the last 200 hundred to hit his lifetime best of 1 minute 47 seconds to now show he is a true contender for the trials with someone pushing him. There was disappointment in the mens 60m hurdles when young hope Lawrence Clarke was disqualified for false starting being mention in same sentences as hurdling legend Colin Jackson. It was his training partner Andrew Pozzi who took the title in a personal best of 7.62 seconds.
It was the women though that shun again with former world heptathlete champion Jessica Ennis equalling her best with a 7.95 seconds showing she could take the event individually with an unbelievable lift over the hurdles and the pick up on the track leaving all her opponents out of sight.
The favourite again in the women's 60 metre race Jeannette Cheeky showed she's no pushover with her typical steaming drive lead from the start, beating teen sensation Jodie Williams and Laura Turner gaining a new stadium record in 7.2 seconds.
So it was left to the mens 60 metre final after Robertson making such an impression in the semi's the final would be where he could make his mark and he sure did finishing second again ahead of the likes of Mark Lewis Francis who never turned up but the favourite Chambers was really pushed finishing in 6.58 with Robertson just behind in 6.61 seconds only missing out by one hundredth of a second to go to Istanbul.
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