European Athletics (EAA) – News – Britain’s Thompson bids to go into the record books on Sunday

The 2010 European Athletics Championships 10,000m silver medallist Chris Thompson will have a full-blooded attempt on the British record of 27:18.14 for 25 laps of the track at the Payton Jordan Invitational in Stanford, California, on Sunday.

Thompson has fond memories of the track and meeting as he ran his personal best of 27:29.61 there last year, the second fastest time by a European runner in 2010.

The British record has been held by Jon Brown since 1998 and ranks him seventh on the European all-time list. No European runner has gone faster than Brown since Belgium’s Mohammed Mourhit set the current European record of 26:52.30 on 3 September 1999.

“This year I feel there’s a bit more pressure and expectation, but I quite like it because I’m where I want to be,” Thompson told the American website www.flotrack.com.

“I’m looking at things now that I never thought I would be, I’m thinking of British records, I’m thinking of the World Championships and making the final and seeing how close I can get to these world beaters.”

In similar fashion to his preparations of 12 months ago, last month Thompson won over 3000m at the Oregon Preview meeting, which provided some good omens for Sunday’s race as he ran  7:52.64, two seconds faster than last year.

The race in Stanford will be paced by Chris Solinsky, who last year broke the American 10,000m record at the meeting with a time of 26:59.60 and a schedule has been set for a target time of 27:20.00 but Thompson, as she showed with a 56-second last lap in Barcelona to snatch the silver medal, is very capable of finishing fast over the final 400m.

The man who beat him to the gold medal in Barcelona, his friend and compatriot Mo Farah, is expected to have his first race of the summer at the Bupa London 10,000 road race on Monday 30 May, an event that also incorporates the first UK national 10km road championships.

“I’ve had some great success in this event in the last two years. I’m aiming for more of the same this time. It’s been a great year for me so far and another good run at the Bupa London 10,000 could be the springboard to a successful summer on the track with the World Championships in Daegu my main target,” said Farah on Thursday.

Farah, who was also Europe’s fastest man over 10,000m on the track last year, had a fantastic winter. He broke the European indoor 5000m record in Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena in February, clocking 13:10.60. The following month he retained his European Athletics Indoor Championships 3000m title in Paris while on 20 March he won the New York City Half Marathon in another British record time of 60:23.

European Athletics (EAA) – News