Win does nicely for British racer on Olympic quest

At Nice. Britain's Katharine Merry continued a promising build up to the Sydney Olympics with a win in the 400m at the international athletics meet in Nice yesterday.

Merry won the race in 50.05 seconds on a balmy Cote D'Azur evening, ahead of runner up world championship bronze medalist Lorraine Graham of Jamaica, who clocked 50.10.

However, the happiest woman on the track was triple Olympic champion Marie-Jose Perec of France, who finished third in her first 400m race in four years, qualifying for Sydney in the process.

Perec, debilitated by a rare viral illness since her double gold victory at the Atlanta Games, had not raced a 400m since September 1996 when she was beaten by Australian Cathy Freeman in Brussels.

Perec ran 50.32, comfortably under the 50.50 Olympic qualifying standard.

"Coming back after four years is not easy," said Perec. "Qualifying for the Olympics was a great bonus but my first objective was to feel the race, to come back and get used to it again."

Perec, who chose to make her long-awaited 400m comeback in front of an expectant home crowd, thought maybe she had made a mistake, as she tossed and turned in her hotel bed the night before, succumbing to a case of nerves.

"I didn't sleep last night," said a radiant Perec. "I kept racing the race in my head and needless to say I never won it and the times were terrible. I thought the last 100m would be nightmarish but it wasn't the case. I've been in worse.

"When I came back in New York two years after winning at the Barcelona Olympics, I literally collapsed," said Perec. "They had to give me oxygen and everything."

The 32-year-old French sprinter, who won the 200m and 400m in Atlanta, has largely been out of action the past few years since contracting Epstein Barr syndrome, an illness which manifests itself through chronic fatigue.

American Anthuan Maybank won the men's 400m, crossing in 44.80 seconds, followed by Jamaica's Gregory Haughton, runnerup in 45.03. Britain's Jamie Baulch was third in 45.38.

Chandra Sturrup of the Bahamas won the women's 100m in 11.18, ahead of 200m world champion Zhanna Pintusevich of the Ukraine, second in 11.19. Nigeria's Mercy Nku, Nigeria clocked the third- fastest time in 11.31 Six-time world champion Sergei Bubka was forced to withdraw from the pole vault because of a strained thigh.

The 36-year-old Ukrainian said he would likely only return to competition sometime in August, just a few weeks before the Olympics, although he said if he were not 100 per cent in time for the Games he would not compete.

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